Nascar and Racing

'08 Rear-View Mirror: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Posted Dec 26, 2008 3:02PM By Geoffrey Miller (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Sprint Cup

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Warning: Objects in this post may be the only way to successfully live through the NASCAR off-season. For best results, read rearview mirror early and often.

Driver: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Team: No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
'08 Final Standing: 12th (-557)
Best Race: Michigan (1st-place)
Worst Race: Homestead (41st-place)

Season in a box: Put the combination of NASCAR's most popular driver with one its winningest teams in the past decade and the expectations are bound to be high, and for Dale Earnhardt Jr., those expectations likely exceeded any type of success outside of winning every race and the championship in 2008.

Of course, a win at the season's first competitive event -- the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona -- didn't lower expectations. Earnhardt Jr. showed plenty of performance in the first half of the season by being a constant figure within the Top-10 of points and finally picking up his lone season win at Michigan in June.

The team -- and more narrowly, crew chief Tony Eury Jr. -- earned its share of criticism for a few calls that hampered Earnhardt Jr.'s track position in race's he could have potentially won (Daytona, Watkins Glen) and also couldn't get around a troubling mid-season trend that saw the No. 88 run up front early in many races before losing the handle on the car and settling for a lower finish.

A lot of fans and media chided the team for its last-place finish in the Chase, but had the brake problems in the race's final portion not sidelined Earnhardt Jr. at the season-finale Ford 400, he easily could have finished in within the Chase Top-10. All in all, not a bad season for a guy who was expected to do nothing less than lead every lap of every race.

Through the crystal windshield: Looking ahead for Earnhardt Jr., his success at Hendrick Motorsports is bound to improve. Simply, it isn't always easy to get into a completely new race car at a completely new team and find success -- especially after he talked at length in 2007 at the huge differentiations between the way his cars at Dale Earnhardt Inc. handled.

With a year under his belt at Hendrick, Earnhardt Jr. will be accustomed to the way the HMS ship runs. With that knowledge and a greater understanding of the resources available at the four-car team, its certainly an easy expectation that Earnhardt will take home a few more race wins in 2009, and potentially battle for the championship.

Next up: Matt Kenseth

Tags: DaleEarnhardtJr, HendrickMotorsports, RearViewMirror, SprintCup

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