Dale Jr
 

Even before the season started NASCAR was talking about how good they do win Dale Jr wins. Low and behold he wins the Daytona 500, finishes second at Phoenix and Las Vegas, which if he hadn't run out of gas with a half lap to go he would have won. How many years has it been since he's done squat? NASCARS ratings are in the toilet and the crowds at the tracks too, sooooooo, coincidence? The pessimist side of me says the fix is in because their is so much money involved and a buddy of mine handles the fuel at some of the races for the pit crews and he says TV doesn't do justice to how empty the stands really are. After the end of last year with Waltrip and Newman and all the goings on with them, Danica, and other things, I'm pretty much done with NASCAR anyway. So am I imagining things? OK, now you Jr fans can let me have it!;)

Stands didn't look too awful bad at Phoenix and Vegas. Gotta remember about Vegas, they got hit real hard during the economy dump, so I'm certain many local's didn't turn out. Even Kyle Busch said that the majority of the fans that do go to Vegas are not from that area. Vegas is hard to tell though on how empty it is from the TV, the upper stands have the seats painted all sorts of colors so it actually kind of hides just how empty they are. Did hear that qualifying at Vegas had their best turnout ever for fans.

Daytona on the other hand didn't look too good, the Supercross on MavTV Saturday night looked like it had 3/4 what the 500 had on the main stands..................

I don't believe NASCAR themselves were saying anything about needing Jr to win. It's been the media hyping it up. Fact is, he led the points last year for a while going into the Chase, fans weren't turning out in droves. It has been 10 years since he was competitive like he was last year and the start of this year. 2003 and 2004. I do not believe the fix is in at all. Had the fix been in, NASCAR would have thrown a yellow for "debris" within 5-10 laps on the final restart yesterday at Vegas knowing he was a lap short on fuel and before Brad had gotten up to 2nd. Anyways, NASCAR would never rely on 1 single driver to make them go, they have never done that in all these years of existence. Fans tune in for the personalities of the drivers, NASCAR lost their way in the late 90's and 2000's when they started neutering the drivers with penalties for saying this or that or doing this or that. The personalities dropped off and they all became sorta the same personality. In the last few years NASCAR has relaxed some and allowed the drivers to be more of themselves. A guy like Kyle Busch is good, he shows you his personality. I just wish he was a little more contrite on coming home 2nd than to act like he came home 25th but that's just my thoughts. His emotion is good for the sport. Now if the boys start brawling every once in a while like last season started off with...................

Actually it was France's son who was saying it. I'll have to ask my buddy how the crowds are when they start running back east. He doesn't do the west stuff. I guess I just miss the good ol days, Earnhardt, Wallace, Gant, Labonte, Elliott, etc., When I was stationed at Dover AFB we use to go to both races every year when the stands just held around 30,000 people, I think it's around 140,000 now. It use to be so much fun, but we quit going after they expanded the place and it became so much more commercial and not so much "fun".

God I miss Dover, I went back when it was still asphalt. Yeah it was like 40-50K in there at the time but now it CAN hold well over 100K but it never does. I think the crowds being down is due to the dates. No way around it, you either fry or it's pouring down rain. I remember parking in the front lawn of a house right out front of the frontstretch. House is still there today but you can't park in their yard anymore it looks like, fenced in now. It was easy to get to from down here where I am, 3 hour ride. Just hated it being 500 miles/laps, by the time we got home it would be 11-12 at night plus you had to cross back over the Bay Bridge Toll.

I honestly don't remember hearing him say anything like that, about needing Jr to win in the context that I believe your getting at. I know the media portrayed it the wrong way, in the wrong context. A lot of the drivers lit up Twitter against how it was being portrayed. Yes, Jr winning is good, Jr winning consistently is real good. It's good for NASCAR in the sense that it drives money but not necessarily thru ticket sales and new fans. It's merch that flies off the shelves due to his massive fan base that brings in the money. It's why Hendrick has stood behind Jr during those first tough years at Hendrick, he knows Jr is a cash cow. Him winning also gives the sport a bit more exposure than David Ragan winning or even Tony Stewart. Jr is to the point now in his career though that his fans have grown up, they aren't the late teens, young adult demographic anymore that wants to party like a rockstar.

It's too bad Steve Wallace is racing little bullrings and not still in Nationwide or up in Cup now. With Jr you'd have an Earnhardt, Wallace and coming soon an Elliott. NASCAR has a bunch of real good young talent coming in and coming up. I think we will start to see the old days upon us again when the same few guys are mad at each other week in and week out. When you get that much talent together at the front for victories, they are bound to ruffle each other up. Heck, Chase Elliott and and Austin Dillon are already doing a pretty good job of angering the older guys a tad bit.

I remember that house! I also remember people camping out along Rt.1 at the south end of the track, campfires, music, it would get pretty wild. That was before the Rt 1 bypass too so the traffic would be crazy.

[h=1]Here's what I was talking about. This isn't the article I saw initially, that one was more recent, but he has said it in the past as shown here.

With Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Daytona 500 win, everything is right in the NASCAR world — at least for one day[/h]Jerry Bonkowski
Feb 24, 2014, 2:23 AM EDT

4 Comments

http://motorsportstalk.files.wordpre...ejr1.jpg?w=320

Getty Images

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – There’s no question NASCAR has faced its share of challenges in recent years.
From falling attendance to slumping TV ratings, and then NASCAR officials trying several ways to right the ship – from new-style cars to the recently announced changes in this season’s Chase for the Sprint Cup – things have been tried, some with success, others not and others to be determined.
But for one night, Sunday night at Daytona International Speedway, everything was right in the NASCAR world because its most popular driver,Dale Earnhardt Jr., just won the Daytona 500, the sport’s biggest race, it’s Super Bowl.
Four years ago, NASCAR chairman Brian France took an unprecedented step by publicly stating that if it was to thrive again, the sport needed Earnhardt to win races and championships.
It wasn’t a request, it was a plea. If all was right in Junior’s world – and that indeed means winning races and contending for championships — everything would likely be right in NASCAR’s world. France isn’t stupid: as Junior goes, NASCAR goes.
So now that Earnhardt has won his second Daytona 500 – 10 years apart, mind you – could this be not only Earnhardt’s comeback year of sorts, his year to finally win the championship so many have predicted, hoped for and prayed for over the last 15 years, and ultimately be the year NASCAR makes its long awaited comeback?
It sure seems that they’re all intertwined, doesn’t it? When Junior was going good and strong during his years at Dale Earnhardt Inc. from 2000 through 2007, NASCAR was at the height of its popularity.
But when the economy started going south near the end of 2007 and into 2008, it was also the time that Earnhardt made the split from the company his father founded, Dale Earnhardt Inc., and joined Hendrick Motorsports.
Of course, the economy going south and Junior moving on were coincidental, but there is definitely a symbolism and synergy that some NASCAR fans can’t be blamed if they feel those events truly were tied together in some strange fashion.
And now that we’re here in 2014, the economy is improving, unemployment is dropping, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. finally not only won a race after a 55-race dry spell, he did it in the most dramatic and big fashion, capturing the biggest race of the year – and potentially the biggest race of his career.
Not only is it just one race into the 2014 season and Junior has already clinched a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup – 26 races from now – but this could very well be the year that he truly does win that elusive first Cup championship and NASCAR makes the big comeback its officials and fans have hoped for.
Earnhardt won Sunday with arguably the best car in the field, but like a delicious stew, there was so much more that went into it.
There’s the fact crew chief Steve Letarte was atop the pit box for his last Daytona 500. Junior would like nothing more than to send Letarte out a winner before the latter joins NBC as a TV analyst in 2015. He started with Sunday’s win; he hopes to finish his gift to Letarte with the Sprint Cup championship at season’s end.
“If you’re going to win one, this is the one you want to win,” Letarte said. “(Earnhardt) knew how much I wanted to win this one.
“I’m a little said this is going to be my last 500. … Everyone has a bucket list and you don’t work in racing and not have the Daytona 500 on your bucket list. It seems awkward or surreal, but my career defining moment came in my last shot at it.”
There’s the fact Junior will be 40 years old later this year, a kind of unofficial demarcation line that if he doesn’t win a championship by then, the opportunities he’ll have left after he turns the big four-oh will quickly become fewer and fewer with each passing year.
“It’s not a weight when you’re able to deliver. It’s a weight when you’re not able to deliver,” Earnhardt said. “When you’re running fifth or 10th every week, it’s very challenging because you want to deliver and you’re not delivering. This brings me a lot of joy. … I don’t know I’ve realized how big a deal it is, but I know I have a lot of fans that are real happy about what we did tonight and can’t wait to go hang around the water cooler and brag to their buddies tomorrow.”
There’s the fact that Junior had finished runner-up in three of the four previous Daytona 500s. As Brad Keselowski said after the race, no other driver likely was more due to win Sunday than Junior.
“Winning is all that matters when it comes to Daytona,” Earnhardt said. “They won’t remember you for running second. I’m grateful to have won it twice now; I was grateful to win it once. In six months, I’ll probably be as urgent to win it as I was with the first.”
There’s also the likelihood that the once-massive Junior nation has dropped in size, fervor and hope over the last several years. With each passing season that Junior didn’t win a championship and was once again an also ran, many of his fans lost interest or belief in him.
Seeing his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jimmie Johnson, win six championships in eight years didn’t help matters for Junior. Those were seasons that were in the prime of his racing career, and yet he came away with nothing but a pat on the back and everyone telling him, “Don’t worry, we’ll get it next year.”
After so much frustration, close calls and shortcomings, it couldn’t help but work on Earnhardt’s belief in himself.
But perhaps when he was at his lowest when it came to thinking he could win more races and championships, team owner Rick Hendrick linked Earnhardt with Letarte, and the best driver-crew chief combo that Junior had since Tony Eury Sr. early on in his DEI days began.
Letarte found a way to get inside Earnhardt, to make him believe in himself, to make him believe in his team, to make him believe he could be a winner – even if Junior had only won just one race prior to Sunday with Letarte on the pit box.
All that is a distant memory now.
“When I crossed the finish line, I was relieved I had done it and I did it with the people I was with,” Earnahrdt said. “It’s like I was back.”
Where does Earnhardt go from here? Will the third time be the charm? By that I mean, when he broke his nearly two-year winless streak in 2008 at Michigan, Earnhardt predicted he’d go on a tear and start winning lots of races.
He did the exact opposite, going more than 130 races before finally reaching victory lane again – at Michigan, no less – in 2012.
Now it’s the third time, not a time to strike out but to rather hit a home run.
Will this time be different? Will Junior be able to take his Daytona win and build upon it with several more wins in the next 35 races this season?
Will he finally bookend his season-opening win with a season-ending championship?
All that remains to be seen. But on a day that started at 1 p.m. ET, included a six hour, 22 minute rain delay and ended nearly 11 hours later, in a town that some are already starting to call Dale-tona, everything for at least one day truly was aligned, balanced and right in the NASCAR world.
No less an expert than Jeff Gordon admitted as much.
“Congrats to Junior, the world is right, Dale Jr. just won the Daytona 500. That’s a sign the 2014 season is going to be a good one,” said Gordon, who finished third in Sunday’s race.
And if Junior has anything to do with it like the way he did in winning Sunday, NASCAR as a whole will be as much of a beneficiary as he will be.
“I’m pumped up, man,” Earnhardt said. “Trust me, we are going to have a blast this year.”
It’s certainly started out that way.
Follow me @JerryBonkowski


Tags: Brad Keselowski, Dale Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson

And a more recent one:

[h=1]Brian France: Daytona 500 win good for Dale Earnhardt Jr., good for NASCAR[/h]Jerry Bonkowski
Feb 27, 2014, 6:32 PM EDT

Leave a comment

http://motorsportstalk.files.wordpre...ce1.jpeg?w=320

Getty Images

As Dale Earnhardt Jr. goes, so goes NASCAR.
If Junior wins races – and potentially and finally wins a Sprint Cup championship – it would likely be the big shot in the arm NASCAR needs to completely recover from several years of struggling at-track attendance and slumping TV ratings.
NASCAR chairman Brian France alluded to that back in 2009 and it remains as relevant today as it did when France first said that.
“It’s sort of like when the NBA doesn’t have the L.A. Lakers or Boston – a couple of their key historic franchises – in the race, that impacts the league,”France said in an interview back then with the Charlotte Observer. “We’re in the same boat.
“Our No.1 franchise, which happens to be Dale Jr. right now, (when he struggles) that’s going to have some impact on his fan base. It just does. … He has won a lot of races in the past. We could have a resurgence and the world would be a better place.”
In light of Earnhardt’s win in Sunday’s Daytona 500, the second time in 10 years that he’s won the Great American Race, could 2014 be both Earnhardt’s year and NASCAR’s year?
Granted, there’s still 35 races to go – including the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup, NASCAR’s marquee event of the season.
But Earnhardt’s win at Daytona has certainly got NASCAR fans, particularly Earnhardt’s large Junior Nation, excited and hopeful.
“Any time his fanbase gets revved up, that’s a good thing,” France said in an interview Wednesday with SportingNews.com. “That’s good for him, and that’s good for us.”
Earnhardt has been so excited since Sunday’s win that after several years of prodding from fans, he finally took to Twitter late Sunday evening and has continued to post a number of entries, particularly from his celebratory media tour that has crossed the country since then.
Needless to say, Earnhardt’s tweets have helped rev up what had been a somewhat dormant Junior Nation in recent years.
France covered a number of topics with SN, but the conversation drifted back to Earnhardt and his big win, his first time in victory lane in 55 races, dating back to 2012, and his third overall victory since the start of the 2007 season.
“The really great thing is how authentic he’s been throughout the week here as he’s doing (on Junior’s promotional media tour),” France said. “That’s great. We’ll have to see (how much of an impact Earnhardt’s win will have over the entire season).”
Earnhardt has been voted by fans as NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver the last 11 years, second most to Bill Elliott’s stout mark of 16 years as the sport’s most popular driver.
Follow me @JerryBonkowski

The Bonk!! Didn't know he was with NBC now. I see it with France now but it's been portrayed incorrectly as I said. They want his massive fan base excited because it reaches so far, it will drive interest for people who aren't currently fans to maybe start tuning in. In the end, NASCAR doesn't NEED him in order to be successful themselves. Many people thought losing his dad would kill the sport but it hasn't. Jr and Jr alone winning races won't fill up the grandstands again though, fans have been turned off over the last 6-7 years for many different reasons. I got a co-worker who hasn't watched a race or kept up with it since Rusty retired. In the end, France never should have said what he did.

LOL! HE said what HE said but.......it's not what HE said? How do you "portray" a quote incorrectly? Whether what France said was right or wrong, he said it.

See ya later!

Like I said, in the end he should have never said it. All the drivers, including Jr himself couldn't believe he said that stuff. He painted himself and NASCAR into a box that makes it appear that 1 driver IS bigger than NASCAR when that isn't true at all.

I really think the poor fan attendance isn't down to the quality of racing/lack of but to prices. Tix have only slightly crept down from what they were in 2007-08. Hotel prices certainly haven't come down at all. Fans are still quite upset about it. Just 3 days ago, saw a fan upset with Dega/Nascar about hotels near the track being outrageous in price. Friend who went to Dega bout 20 years ago said it was like that then. Said they had to get a hotel up towards Chattanooga, 2 hours away. NASCAR claims to have done some work on that to fix it but obviously that hasn't happened or worked.

I used to go to Richmond all the time when I was younger, totally different place now than it was back then. I refuse to go anymore until the track does some cleaning and hires traffic cops that don't stand there and watch chaos ensue. Martinsville does it right, love going there. Unfortunately it's a 4-4.5 hour ride home and since they don't go green until 2-2:15 it's rather late when I get home. At the same time, the fans are much more friendly, like the NASCAR I remember. At Richmond these days, the fans are raging drunks looking for a fight from anyone. I was appalled at how nasty the fans had gotten there.

I have been wondering for a while whether NASCAR may have over saturated the market. You have a lot of tracks. Of course, the expense is also a consideration. The economy is still not doing that well and if you have to travel very far, it can be rather expensive to attend a race.

Yes, I try to look at doing a vacation and hitting up a race instead of making 2 trips. Like if I'm at my in-laws, they are an hour-ish from Kentucky Speedway, so if the races are in town I would like to try to get there for it. Or even hit up Indy for either the 500 or the 400 later, it's only a 2 hour ride away. Looking at doing a 'Dega/Miss State Football weekend like I did a UNC Football/Martinsville weekend back in 2007. Drive in Thursday into Friday morning, go to the game on Saturday, check out of the hotel early Sunday morning, drive 2.5-3 hours over to 'Dega and then have a hotel further North for after the race and then drive on back home on Monday. Schedules haven't worked out the past few years though. The 1 year it did work out neither my wife or I could get off work for it.

The market isn't over saturated, heck they lasted for how many years mainly running the SE? Fans want drama, drama is gone for the most part. It comes down to the tracks on one hand, most aren't conducive to good close quarters racing which leads to disagreements. Yes I'm singling out the gosh darn 1.5 mile "cookie-cutters." The other hand is that the cars have so much downforce they are very close to being able to drive them upside down in a tunnel, a la F1 and Indy Car. Drivers aren't so willing to wrinkle the fender or nose. Take away the majority of that downforce, take it back to like it was in the 80's and early 90's with the flat and short spoilers. How big a pair you got downstairs to drive that thing off into the corner with no rear grip now? Look at F1, they introduced a ton of changes this year, the cars are incredibly squirrelly but the racing looks like it's going to be awesome this year. They don't have the downforce they had in previous years. The other problem is the drivers themselves. You no longer have 5-6 drivers who could win a race and fight for the title, you've got 25-30 contenders. It's become more serious, the drivers as I said aren't so willing to wrinkle a fender if they are angry with another driver because they are more focused on the bigger picture now. NASCAR has tried to change that mentality this year with the new championship system.

I'd really like to see them go to a 25 race season. Only have 23 race tracks on the current schedule, have to add 2 more tracks. Gateway, Iowa and Rockingham are possibilities or a whole new track in the NW. Run all tracks just 1 time for points. The exceptions would be Daytona for the Shootout and Charlotte for the All-Star, keep those going. Both SMI and NASCAR are happy as each gets a special event still. Run 10 points races, take a week off then run 10 more races and get a week off. That 20th race is the cutoff for the "playoffs." Run 5 races for the title at 5 different tracks. 1 short track, 1 1.5 mile, 1 Plate, 1 Road Course and then take your pick from the 1 mile tracks to Indy to Pocono or the 2 milers. Season ends at the 1.5 mile Vegas Speedway followed by Champions Week which is now done in Vegas every year. The schedule could fit between the first weekend of March and first of Sept, right as football season starts up.

Nascar died when the Car of Tomorrow emerged.

I was a season ticket holder at Bristol for 10 years when you couldn't get a ticket to a race there without paying a arm and a leg. I had 4 season tickets and would use 2 and sell the other 2 and almost pay for my trip down there by selling the other 2. You can now walk up to the ticket window and buy your tickets on race morning.

I use to attend 5 or 6 races a year and have been to 10 different tracks. I hadn't been to a race in 4 years until last year and I went to the race in Kansas City and soon realized why I quit going. The COT makes the races BORING.

buttttttttt.........they don't race the COT anymore. They have a car that looks better and is lightning fast. I think I understand what your saying though, the common templates where every car is the same. I wish they'd get rid of that, I like what Nationwide has gone to, individual bodies and front ends. Those aren't just stickers, the cut-outs are real. The racing is also improving as Goodyear is starting to bring out a tire that wears but doesn't just up and fail.....well....unless your JJ that is! That helps create more passing and racing. To really bring it back and find out who the real drivers are, cut the downforce in half.

As for Kansas, welcome to the cookie-cutter experience. They(track owners) built those tracks with the thought of opening their schedule up. They could not only do NASCAR but also Open Wheel. Open Wheel works on those tracks, not NASCAR. There are way too many races on'em that are not interesting. They are also very wide which leads to not close quarter racing battles. Remember Rockingham back in like '84 maybe? Cale and Darrell battling hard at the front, they'd dive off into Turn 1 like scalded cat's, slippin and slidin, side by side, lap after lap. Or the famous Wilkesboro races? Those tracks weren't very wide compared to today's cookie cutters. Why do they think Ontario and Texas World failed, too big and too wide. Remember the first race at Vegas, good brotherly battle but it wasn't close quarters. Ward and Jeff Burton raced side by side for what, the last 25 laps before Jeff made the pass for the win. Truth be told, Indy isn't a good track for NASCAR, the racing hasn't been good and exciting side by side. They can't race side by side there like Open Wheel can.

Bristol looked horrible for attendance but a lot of that had to do with the weather. It was cold and rainy and forecasts were calling for rain all day and night thru Monday night. It was seriously looking like a Tuesday race by most forecasts so I suspect many fans chose not to waste time going to it expecting the rain like that. I don't believe it would have been a sell-out but it wouldn't have been as bad as it was with no rain. Looked like maybe 40K in a 160K place.

I'm friends with a VP at Bristol and they are so fed up with Nascar. They have been trying for years to move the spring race to at least late April to have more predictable weather.

Wait, Nascar will allow it. It's an SMI track, trade the date with another SMI track and I'm certain Nascar will allow it. They certainly aren't going to want to switch dates between an SMI and ISC track. So they need to get on Bruton to see if they can swap with Texas or Kansas. Texas is next weekend and Kansas is right before the All-Star. Have they tried that and been shot down?

If they went to the schedule I posted above the lone Bristol date could be in Aug. when the night race already takes place as part of the Chase.

Great crowd at Dega! Yeah yeah they took out the backstretch stand but the joint looked completely full out front and in the infield. Last couple years the front stands were maybe half full............last few races have had great crowds. Richmond looked good, Martinsville looked normal, Darlington looked full, and Texas looked pretty well full. The racing has gotten better. I don't believe a reduction in power is needed. Will I go to a race now? Nah, not exactly but its not because the racing is boring. I remember going to Richmond back in the early 90's, one of those was a race that had 3 cautions and came down to Elliott just barely holding off Kulwicki at the flag. Fans today might say it was boring, in reality it wasn't to me. I just love being at the track seeing the speed. So much that the TV cameras don't show. All the races I have been to have been exciting and not boring.