NASCAR: Rick Hendrick and Richard Childress give Dale Jr. a vote of confidence

If Dale Earnhardt Jr. felt he could go no lower than when he spoke to the media on Friday in Charlotte; a broken transmission in Saturday night's Bankers 500 which resulted in a 38th place finish didn't help.

The day before the race Earnhardt told journalists, after being winless in 51 races, that he was about at the end of his rope. "I've been riding it out, but there comes a point where you don't want to ride it out no more. You've just had enough," he said. "It's been so low. The highs have not been very high, and the lows have been terribly low."


Richard Childress, a championship car owner with Earnhardt's late father, Dale Sr., hasn't given up on the son. "That's what Junior is doing and everybody's got their expectations so high,” said Childress.

“And when you don't fulfill those expectations, people think you're not there. But Junior can still drive a race car. He can compete. He can win. And he will win a championship some day; it's just a matter of going through a few of these peaks and valleys and I've spoke to him a couple of times trying to give him the encouragement to keep digging because we've been there," Childress added.


Even Dale Jr.'s car owner Rick Hendrick hasn't lost faith in his driver.

"The 88 team, you know, I'm as frustrated as those guys are. You know, everybody over there, including these guys (Johnson & crew chief, Chad Knaus) right here, committed to helping get that car on track,” Childress continued.