Can it be? As the long cold snowy winter finally loosens its grip on the Southeastern United States with the weather expected to be 56 degrees and sunny when the green flag drops in Hampton, Georgia for the Kobalt 500, could it be the long cold draught the #88 team has been struggling to overcome is starting to thaw too?
Look who’s on the pole, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Can he finally be getting back into winning form? Fans could speak of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s dramatic burst toward the front to finish 2nd in the Daytona 500. After all, Junior is supposedly the king of the restrictor plate tracks. Skeptics had to be thinking “here we go again” when mistakes and mechanical problems found Jr. holding on to a miserable 32nd place – everything seemed to have the markings of the dreadful lost season of 2009. Then it was on to Las Vegas, a roll of the dice, and the Earnhardt fortunes found NASCAR’s most popular driver starting 4th but dropping off finishing on the lead lap in 16th never leading a single lap. Though only posting a 16th position in the points standings, Junior is only 18 points out of the top 12 and 40 points from nailing down 9th spot. While his minion of loyal fans would delight to see him yucking it up in Victory Lane, it’s time to work on good strong consistent finishes. If the fan friendly driver and crew chief Lance McGrew accomplish that, the wins will surely follow.
While fans can ponder the glass half empty/half full with Dale Earnhardt Jr’s status so far this year, the glass has spilled and might be broken for several teams who were in last year’s chase. Consider Brian Vickers, Kasey Kahne, Juan Montoya and Ryan Newman as chasers who so far are struggling to chase their own tails.
On the “Cup runneth over” side, look at the Richard Childress gang. What a season their three cars are enjoying with Kevin Harvick atop the standings.
The picture of the 2010 season and who’ll be in the chase is just beginning to form a slight image now. For some, a bad race at Atlanta could doom the rest of the season even with over 30 races left to go.
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