Things aren’t working well these days for “Little E” or Earnhardt Jr.. It seems Dale Earnhardt Junior just gets worse every race and not much hope in sight. The NASCAR circuit is full of really talented drivers and perhaps we are seeing the cream rise to the top right now and Dale Junior just isn’t the cream. His worse finish of the year came in North Carolina at the Coca Cola 600 yesterday. There is a lot of finger pointing going on right now, but I just don’t think Dale Earnhardt Jr. is that good of a driver.

Most of the blame now seems to be shifting to his crew chief Tony Eury. We might get to see Tony Eury Jr. get replaced in the near future as Dale’s crew chief, but I don’t think that will help much. Sometimes it’s not the car’s fault and it’s the driver inside not knowing what to do can be the root of the problem. A NASCAR driver must be like a doctor for his car each Sunday. Diagnosing what’s wrong or what’s working good can make the difference at the finish line. This is why Jeff Gordon has been such a good driver for so many years in NASCAR. His ability to tell the pits what to fix or change has made his in-race adjustments to get better results at the end of the race. Dale Earnhardt Junior doesn’t have this gift; nor is he willing to work hard in the off season to become a better driver. A new crew chief isn’t the answer for the 88 team and they need a new driver in the car that can help them on the track.

The most popular driver remains Earnhardt and even NASCAR gives him breaks and shows a lot of favoritism. Since the playoff system has been in effect, NASCAR has tried to get Little E in the top spots to compete for a championship near the end of the year. We first saw the top 10 drivers that get to advance at the end of the season and when Dale Earnhardt missed this cut; NASCAR changed it to a 12 driver format. This didn’t help much because Dale Earnhardt Jr. is not one of the best 12 drivers NASCAR has to offer each week. His popularity may start to slip this season if the 88 team doesn’t find a way to win a race in the near future.