Gut-Check Time for Struggling Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

The good news for Dale Earnhardt Jr. is that the legions of his believers are still just that -- massive in number and faithful to his cause.

But even many of the most loyal are astounded that their beloved "Junior," NASCAR's most famous driver, isn't more than a footnote in this year's Chase for the Championship.

The most-talked about driver in NASCAR isn't being talked about when it matters most.

Earnhardt, 34, is currently ranked 21st and is winless since last summer, with only a pair of top-five efforts on the season. It is the second time in three years that he hasn't been among the 12 top drivers vying for the Sprint Cup title, when the 10-race playoff beginning Sunday in New Hampshire.

This year's tumultuous and under-achieving effort may represent the biggest crossroads in Earnhardt's career. At the very least, it's gut-check time.

"I think if his dad were here, he'd tell him, 'Now you have to buckle down, we've all been through these things,' " said longtime Earnhardt family friend, and ESPN NASCAR analyst, Dale Jarrett.

"The ones that come out of it are the ones that really want to. It's the same advice I'd give him.''

Jarrett has little doubt that Earnhardt will get on track, but he and others in the garage area acknowledge it will take some genuine effort on Earnhardt's part.

"I get the feeling listening to interviews that it's the people's perception of him that is bugging him,'' said FOX Sports NASCAR analyst Larry McReynolds, who was crew chief on the late Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s 1998 Daytona 500 winning team.

"He's concerned that people think he has too many irons in the fire or they question his focus or how physically fit he is.''

Said Jarrett, the 1999 Cup champion, ''The biggest thing is he has to get his focus back on what's important to him and what makes him happy and that's driving a race car and competing.''

Jarrett said, the perception that Earnhardt is not meeting expectations, "is not something that just happened this year or last year even. He's always been pulled in so many directions. ...''

Right now, the direction he needs to find, is up.

Earnhardt's five top-10 finishes in the No. 88 AMP Energy Chevrolet this season are the fewest since his 2000 rookie year when he won two races. He's never had fewer than 12 top-10s a season since and his career average is 15 per year.

Instead, in 2009, Earnhardt has 14 finishes of 20th place or worse and five of 30th place of worse.

He's led races only five times for a total of 96 of the 7,336 laps possible -- and 83 of his 96 lead laps came in just two races (Talladega, Ala. where he notched a season-best runner-up finish and Phoenix).

Team owner Rick Hendrick replaced Earnhardt's cousin Tony Eury Jr. as crew chief in June, hoping that a change in chemistry might invigorate the team. Since Lance McGrew took over, Earnhardt's had only two top-10 runs, and dropped to a season low ranking of 25th just last month before climbing back up to 21st.

He's never been a factor in the championship.

"I don't know if anyone knows what's going on with Junior, but Junior,'' said McReynolds, who thinks part of Junior's "fix" may be as simple as fine tuning his communication skills.

"I don't think you win two Nationwide Series championships and all the races he's won in Cup without talent. Dale Junior's weakness is not driving a race car,'' McReynolds said.

"I say this cautiously but with confidence, it's relaying to the crew chief what the car is doing.

"His dad was the same way. And when I listen to him on the radio, if I close my eyes, it's like I'm listening to his father. You have to be very confident when you tell your crew chief what is wrong: short, confident and concise.''

A harder challenge may be overcoming perception.

"People are hard on him because they think he should be like his dad, they treat him like a name, not a person,'' said Debbie Wilson, 42, who was at Richmond International Raceway over the weekend dressed in full "Junior gear" to cheer on her favorite driver.

Jarrett, whose father Ned is a two-time Cup champion, understands the pressures of maintaining an accomplished legacy. It opens up doors and raises the bar.

"None us us can put ourselves in the spot he's in, him coming into his own just as his dad's untimely death,'' said Jarrett, referring to the seven-time champ Earnhardt's death on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.

"But I don't know that he really signed up for everything that's been thrown on him as far as being "the guy" in the sport.''

Two years ago Earnhardt took a big professional risk, leaving the team his father started and heading to Hendrick Motorsports -- a risk because he knew the expectations would increase exponentially, as would his chances to win.

Hendrick drivers have won four of the last eight Cup championships, including the previous three straight with driver Jimmie Johnson.

Earnhardt's newest teammate, 50-year old Mark Martin is now leading the standings by virtue of being the winningest driver of the season (four victories). Tony Stewart, whose Stewart-Haas Racing team uses Hendrick Cheverolet engines and chassis, handily led the points up until the standings were re-set for the playoff.

Three of Hendrick's four drivers plus its two satellite teams qualified for the Chase.

The only things that match the expectations at Hendrick are the resources. And Earnhardt has always been the first to say there are no excuses.

So ... where does he go from here?

First of all, the pressure is off.

Earnhardt won't "have to" do the formal media interviews mandated by NASCAR for each of the top-12 drivers at each week's race, his demand at the race track lessened compared to the drivers who are actually challenging for the championship.

His only commitments now will be those to his race team and those he's made to his personal marketing pursuits, which keep his souvenir sales tops in the sport.

And there was a time when effort spent on the former, produced the latter.

No matter his current struggles on-track, Earnhardt is a proven commodity. He won back-to-back Nationwide Series championships in 1998-99 and his 18 Cup wins provide him as stellar and diverse a resume as any elite driver complete with the 2004 Daytona 500 crown, and wins on super-speedways, intermediate and short tracks.

And his name didn't drive the car. He did.

"I think they can stay below the radar now, but they need to get this fixed,'' McReynolds said. "Dale Earnhardt Junior needs to be a contender and a winner on a regular basis just like all his teammates are competing and winning on a regular basis. Next year is pretty pivotal for him and that 88 team.

"What does he need to do? I think he needs to win a race this year.''

Stressed Jarrett, "He does have the talent to be a winning and championship driver, he's proven that.

"But the next thing he has to prove is that he as the desire to pick it up when things are not going so good.

"And I believe he will."