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Dale Earnhardt Jr. gets off the waiting list to victory lane after his win at Michigan yesterday. I know a lot of disgruntled Junior supporters are now glad that they can see the No. 88 in victory lane once more.
Frankly, I'm glad Earnhardt Jr. won. Now the pressure is off, both for himself and the media. However, the crutch "Will Junior Win Again?" story that all racing journalist have on standby for lack of a better story, must now be discarded thanks to the victory Sunday.
Here's an interesting thought. Earnhardt Jr. has had great success off the track with endorsements, but will he ever come close to his father's success on the track? Look no further than Kyle Petty. I wonder if there was concern years ago over the younger Petty, who struggles early on winning only 8 races in a ten-year period, and not winning since 1995. Petty has since done great charitable works and has become a favorite of many fans of NASCAR. However, that off the track success has never translated to on the track dominance.
Compare that to Junior who has won 18 races in 8 years . Although Junior has more than double the wins than Petty did in his first 10 years, he's yet to breakout into the "Dominator" his father was. I hate to say it, but Junior has not proven his worth yet. Moving to Hendrick Motorsports should help though. To be fair though, a Father's Day victory was fitting and it should serve as a springboard to the next level.
