Dale Earnhardt Jr. has started off 2014 on a hot streak. He won the Daytona 500 and followed that up with second place finishes at Phoenix and Las Vegas.
Although he won two Nationwide Series (then Busch series) championships in the past he’s yet to win the vaunted NASCAR Sprint Cup title, but he remains the series’ most popular driver.
His early success in both the Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup Series occurred at the time of NASCAR’s greatest growth. That begs the question that Dale Junior’s success brings NASCAR’s success or does it?
Brian Z. France, NASCAR’s CEO thinks so.
Junior isn’t quite sure. In fact he said he’s “uncomfortable” being the face of NASCAR.
“It’s hard for me to kind of have my finger on the pulse and know exactly how much the needle is moving,” Earnhardt said in a press conference in Bristol, Tenn.
“They say we can’t really look at the Daytona because of the rain out. The network broadcasts are about the same if not a little bit, a percentage point one way or the other. I guess my fans have been tuning in all along.”
On a personal note he’s enjoying the strong run which actually started late in 2013 after a bad start to the Chase.
“We just enjoy what we do. I try not to really worry about – I can’t concern myself with how much I move the needle. I think that goes outside of my comfort zone and what I feel is and what I think you need to concern yourself with if you’re as an individual. I just don’t think it’s something –it’s relevant to me of course but not important to me.
“I want the sport to be healthy. And I want to do things that help the sport and make an impact on the sport. I try to do those things always taking opinions and advice on what I can do better and what I’m not doing that I could be doing to help the sport. You want to leave a mark of some kind. We all do.
“Everybody here wants to have some sort of mark left in their field and in the sport because we all care about it. There are so many personalities and other drivers and new guys coming in. It’s an ebb and flow of personalities. So, I try not to get too caught up in it.
“It ain’t always gonna be that way. You know, something could happen this weekend between two different drivers that reach far beyond what I could do, and that will be great. That’s how the sport survives. It definitely doesn’t live and breathe on everything that I’ve got going on. It would be perfectly fine without me, but I’m glad to be a part of it.”
Although NASCAR has had two popular seven-time champion’s Dale Jr.’s late father, Dale Earnhardt, and Richard Petty you could argue that it was strong competition from other drivers which made the series so popular. Without a good fight this year Dale Jr. may be right. It’s going to take other drivers, too, to bring the series back to the levels of the past.
Although he won two Nationwide Series (then Busch series) championships in the past he’s yet to win the vaunted NASCAR Sprint Cup title, but he remains the series’ most popular driver.
His early success in both the Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup Series occurred at the time of NASCAR’s greatest growth. That begs the question that Dale Junior’s success brings NASCAR’s success or does it?
Brian Z. France, NASCAR’s CEO thinks so.
Junior isn’t quite sure. In fact he said he’s “uncomfortable” being the face of NASCAR.
 |
| The face of NASCAR (Photo: Facebook.com/Dalejr) |
“It’s hard for me to kind of have my finger on the pulse and know exactly how much the needle is moving,” Earnhardt said in a press conference in Bristol, Tenn.
“They say we can’t really look at the Daytona because of the rain out. The network broadcasts are about the same if not a little bit, a percentage point one way or the other. I guess my fans have been tuning in all along.”
On a personal note he’s enjoying the strong run which actually started late in 2013 after a bad start to the Chase.
“We just enjoy what we do. I try not to really worry about – I can’t concern myself with how much I move the needle. I think that goes outside of my comfort zone and what I feel is and what I think you need to concern yourself with if you’re as an individual. I just don’t think it’s something –it’s relevant to me of course but not important to me.
“I want the sport to be healthy. And I want to do things that help the sport and make an impact on the sport. I try to do those things always taking opinions and advice on what I can do better and what I’m not doing that I could be doing to help the sport. You want to leave a mark of some kind. We all do.
 |
| Dale Earnhardt Jr (Photo: Facebook.com/Dalejr) |
“Everybody here wants to have some sort of mark left in their field and in the sport because we all care about it. There are so many personalities and other drivers and new guys coming in. It’s an ebb and flow of personalities. So, I try not to get too caught up in it.
“It ain’t always gonna be that way. You know, something could happen this weekend between two different drivers that reach far beyond what I could do, and that will be great. That’s how the sport survives. It definitely doesn’t live and breathe on everything that I’ve got going on. It would be perfectly fine without me, but I’m glad to be a part of it.”
Although NASCAR has had two popular seven-time champion’s Dale Jr.’s late father, Dale Earnhardt, and Richard Petty you could argue that it was strong competition from other drivers which made the series so popular. Without a good fight this year Dale Jr. may be right. It’s going to take other drivers, too, to bring the series back to the levels of the past.