It's getting to be that time of year!!!

Daytona is right around the corner and this week the drivers are in Daytona for Fan Fest. Dale is really looking forward to the new season, so much so that he wanted to get it started right after last season ended! So here is the first article for the new year!! Here's to 2010 and Dale Jr!!!

Earnhardt approaching 2010 with optimism

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. says he has noticed a change in the culture at the Hendrick Motorsports race shop his No. 88 team shares with the No. 5 of Mark Martin -- and that may bode well for improved performance in 2010.From Earnhardt's point of view, the catalyst for the change was the naming of Lance McGrew as his full-time crew chief at the end of the 2009 season. In May, McGrew had replaced Earnhardt's cousin, Tony Eury Jr., as interim crew chief.






"When he [McGrew] was able to solidify his position, and we could move forward knowing this was the deal -- this is how it is -- everybody sort of wrapped their minds and beliefs and trusts into that and around that, and we could sort of build back some confidence and some trust and belief in the team," Earnhardt said Friday night at the Preseason Thunder Fan Fest at Daytona International Speedway.


A shifting of in-shop personnel has created a greater sense of cooperation between the two teams. "When I say the culture, that's kind of what I mean, in the two cars and the people that are really intertwined between the two teams -- kind of getting them all working and believing again in the No. 88 is what I think has changed a lot," Earnhardt said.

Martin, who finished second to Jimmie Johnson in the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship standings last year, doesn't think Earnhardt's performance needs to improve that much, if he can reverse the ill fortune that derailed promising runs in a number of races last year.

"If they only make minor progress in the performance side, and they have the opposite kind of racing luck that they had, they will have a Chase-making and very, very, very respectable season," Martin said. "In other words, they don't have to make a huge jump in performance, if they can just get that monkey off their back.

"They ran better than the 5 car in numerous races, but nobody really noticed, because they got wrecked, or something broke... They had a lot of things happen and go wrong for them when they were faster than we were in the 5 car."

Teammate Jeff Gordon believes confidence is the key to a turnaround for Earnhardt, who enters the season on a 57-race winless streak. "It doesn't take much to get off track," Gordon said. "I mean, it's so competitive out there. And I know that sometimes it looks like they're way off, but I don't think they're off as far as people think. ... I think it just is going to a take a fresh start -- a few things.

"The organization puts so much effort into every team and every car that the ingredients are certainly there. I think that probably what's left is just to get that confidence up. It happens with everybody. If the driver is confident, then the crew chief is confident, and if the crew chief is confident, the pit crew is confident. It just trickles all the way down.

"Hopefully, all the hard work they're putting in over the offseason will help them get started off in the right foot and be able to not break the confidence down too early -- because once you get it broke down, it's hard to get it back."

Earnhardt understands how important it is to his fans for him to make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. In three of the last five seasons, he has fallen short of that goal.

"When I miss the Chase... I feel like I've let them down," Earnhardt said. "They put up a fight with you all year long. They fight every week right there with you. They argue their way through every day of work with somebody who's pulling against you. So they fight their own battles just like I do out on the racetrack.

"So, yeah, you feel like you have let them down when you don't make the Chase at least. I mean -- damn! -- you hope to make the Chase. That's not really asking a terrible amount from your drivers. So you feel pretty bad. I think that's the thing that bothers me the most out of having a disappointing year." 

Not too much going on....

around here. See if you can guess who this special elf is.....

Ok, that looked corny, but it was that, the drunk Santa or a snowman. I figure Junior would rather be the elf, because they to make all the cool toys. Anyway, Merry Christmas to all of you who are so faithful to me and this blog. Just wish you would leave some comments so I know you're still out there.

The rumors are true

Danica will be driving part time for JR Motorsports next year. At first I wasn't too thrilled about the idea of having her there, but #1 Who am I to have a say in the matter and #2 It might help bring some IRL fans (mostly Danica fans) to NASCAR and vise versa.

The following are two articles on NASCAR.com --

Patrick announces she will drive for JR Motorsports

Danica chasing her dream should be focus of story

The Most Popular Driver Award didn't go to.....

...Kyle Busch!

Remember back at Dover, Kyle made the comment about who the winner of the MPD Award would be? Well, it certainly wasn't him and like usual, he stuck his foot in his mouth. Anyway, Dale DID win the award, his 7th consecutive win, two more wins and he will tie Richard Petty. There are a few articles on the presentation and I'll post the links below...

Popularity, responsibility go hand-in-hand for Junior

Notes: Junior again MPD; Hamlin preps for surgery

Here's a few pics of Dale Jr accepting his award from last night, thanks to Motorsport.com for them...

WAY TO GO JUNEBUG!!

Thoughts on the 2009 season

Well, the 2009 season is in the books, and there were some exciting moments, scary moments, and moments we'll be talking about for years to come. A few highlights were those who won races, like Brad winning at Talladega, David Reutimann winning at Lowe's (even though it was a rain out), and Joey Logano (ok his was a rain out too), among others. There were some pretty big crashes this year, Carl Edwards at Talladega, Joey Logano at Dover, and Ryan Newman and Mark Martin at Talladega.

There were rule changes and a few things that NASCAR changed that the fans wanted changed. The biggest change that really stired things up was the double file restarts, which began at Pocono in August. The last minute no-drafting rule and rule to make the restricter plates at Talladega this fall made for, what most thought would be a pretty uneventful race. It wasn't uneventful, as it actually made little to no difference because #1 the smaller plate really didn't help slow down the cars and #2 the no bump drafting rule didn't stop the "big one" from happening.

Other than all of that, it was a good season of racing and I can't wait untill the 2010 season starts so we can do it all again. I'll keep the blog updated as to anything Dale Jr related, and can't wait to start posting results and other things once the new season begins.

Ford 400

As if the season wasn't bad enough, Dale Jr couldn't even end the season on a high note. His car was really strong at the start, however because of how high he runs in the corners, he hit his car against the wall a few times and knocked the tow out in the front of the car. He qualified way in the back in 32nd and had made it up as high as 7th when he hit the wall. He struggled for the rest of the race and finished 28th.

Congrats to Dale's teammate Jimmie Johnson on his 4th straight Sprint Cup Championship. For those who are tired of seeing the same person win the championship, I say this: You saw history be made last Sunday night, and that is very rare in a persons life to see that being done. Stop complaining about it, Jimmie and Chad aren't cheating, if they were NASCAR would have caught it by now. They are simply that good as a driver/crew chief.

Hendrick turning attention to getting Junior on track

Getting Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team back on track is Rick Hendrick's top priority now that Jimmie Johnson has his record fourth consecutive NASCAR championship.

"We're all over it, and we've been all over it," Hendrick said Tuesday in a conference call. "It's my primary focus here, starting Monday."

Johnson gave Hendrick Motorsports its NASCAR record 12th championship in Sunday's season finale, and Hendrick drivers swept the top three spots in the standings. Mark Martin finished second and won five races this season, while Jeff Gordon finished third and had one victory.

Earnhardt, meanwhile, went winless and was a distant 25th in the final standings in his second season driving for Hendrick.

Hendrick changed Earnhardt's crew chief midway through the season, and assigned additional engineering support to the No. 88 team. Although his performance began to improve toward the end of the season, bad luck and mechanical problems left Earnhardt with very little to show for his efforts. Earnhardt had just five top-10 finishes all year, and admittedly struggled with his confidence.

"I've seen this happen with Jeff Gordon ... you just go through these [slumps]," Hendrick said. "We know we can make the team better and it's frustrating. The driver begins to think that no matter what he does, something is going to happen.

"We've had failures, we've had wrecks. If it could happen, it happened to that team. It's just been really frustrating."

• Hendrick, meanwhile, said his 29-year-old niece is doing well after undergoing an emergency liver transplant Sunday in North Carolina.

He missed the race at Homestead-Miami Speedway after flying home Friday night to be with niece Alesha Gainey, who was healthy and headed to a Carolina Panthers game on Thursday night when she suddenly fell ill.

Hendrick said doctors aren't sure what caused Gainey's organs to fail, and although the liver transplant was successful, she's in critical condition because her kidneys aren't yet functioning.

Gainey is the daughter of Rick Hendrick's brother, John, who was one of the 10 people killed in a 2004 plane crash. Also killed in the accident was Gainey's younger twin sisters.

"It was never a doubt in my mind where I needed to be, and where I wanted to be," Hendrick said of missing the race. "I would have loved to have celebrated with them, but I wasn't in the frame of mind to celebrate. The good news is, the liver is working, she's stable and we're going to have a very good Thanksgiving."

Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500

I love listening to Dale Jr on the scanner, whether he's happy with the car, or not happy with it at all, you never know what you will hear from him. Today I had the scanner on as they showed the drivers climbing into their cars. When Dale got his radio hooked up, first thing out of his mouth was him singing.... "Let's get it started....." Hilarious!!! Rick is the man! If he doesn't get to see the drivers before they head out onto the track, he makes sure to stop by their pit box and get on the radio to wish them good luck. Dale Jr had a good car for most of the race, was involved in a multi-car wreck, had an oil leak that was able to be fixed and ran the rest of the race in 35th sport and down 56 laps. Next week is the last race for this year. :( I am so hoping that Dale Jr has a good run next weekend. It would be great for him to finish next week strong, so the team has their heads held high heading into the 2010 season.

Dale Jr in the National Enquirer

I'm not one to rant, you know that, but what I just read has me #1 a littlie miffed, and #2 realizing just how much the tabloids hate NASCAR. They got a story from a supposed "pal" of Dale's that read that he is in a "death spiral" and has turned to booze to comfort himself from pain of this season. It also said that he and Rick are fueding and that he has locked himself away from his closest friends. GIVE ME A BREAK!!

Dale Jr on the CMA Awards

For those that didn't get to see Dale Jr on the CMA Awards last night, he presented the award for the Best Vocal Duo or Group with Dancing with the Stars dancer/singer Julian(?) Hough. According to Mike Davis, Dale's PR person, Dale nailed his lines during rehearsals, and then actually got his tongue tied while reading them for the live broadcast. Sugarland won the award, and both members shook Dale's hand when they accepted the award from he and Julian.