10 years later, Junior still in father’s shadow

Associated Press

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.

There’s a restaurant outside North Carolina Speedway where all the racers used to go for steak and socializing whenever NASCAR was in town.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. knew the routine, had lived it with his famous father. But he was a reluctant participant when he began his racing career, once recruiting his publicist to skip the steak in favor of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in their motel room.

Earnhardt didn’t think it would be a problem until his father came through the door of their adjoining room, saw the half-eaten loaf of bread and his son watching “Batman” reruns. The Intimidator lit into him.

“As he was opening the door, he was hollering, ‘Y’all got 15 minutes to get ready to go and eat,”’ Earnhardt recalled, “and once he opened the door to see what we were doing, he was really upset because we weren’t more professional. He thought we should do what other drivers do, and what he was doing is the best thing to do. So he thought we were kind of lazy.

“Tons of moments like that ... where we would be lazy, do something goofy, and Dad would just get so mad for us not taking things more seriously.”

Those are the memories of Dale Earnhardt his son has chosen to share in the days leading up to Friday, the 10th anniversary of his father’s death on the last lap of the Daytona 500. He’s chosen to keep to himself the personal thoughts, feelings and heartache that accompany that violent afternoon, and the decade of difficulties it created for NASCAR’s most popular driver.

Try as he might, he can’t replicate his father’s success. He’s stuck in the shadow. He goes by “Dale” — that’s what his circle calls him, but he’s “Junior” to most.

He can’t please a rabid fan base, much of it inherited, that demands a championship. But, worse, he can’t shake the pressure that comes from being the namesake of an icon who was polarizing in life but has become mythical in death.

It clearly weighed on him in his preseason appearances, each one a peppering of questions about his father. With a blank stare and monotone answers, he patiently sat through every session, trying to be respectful but making it very clear he can’t wait for the anniversary to pass. He insisted he’s “happy inside,” but also acknowledged that appearances no longer paint a picture of the carefree, beer-drinking rock star who was such a stark contrast to his blue-collar father.

“I’ll see these videos of me from five years ago, definitely a more jubilant, cheerier guy,” Earnhardt said. “I think I’ve become more reserved, maybe due to how I’ve seen me be judged or analyzed. But I’m telling you, if I can get back to the racetrack and I can win a race and run well, it’ll get a whole lot easier.”

That’s the true burden — the losing, the failure — he’s faced in these last five years.

He has won just three races since 2005 ( none the last two years), and been to Victory Lane only once since his ballyhooed 2008 move to Hendrick Motorsports, a marriage that paired the most marketable driver in NASCAR with the winningest team.

He has yet to challenge for a title, missed the 12-driver Chase for the Championship the last two years, and takes a 93-race losing streak into Sunday’s Daytona 500.

An accident in Wednesday’s practice wrecked his pole-winning car and hopes that the prodigal son could end his miserable slump in NASCAR’s biggest race of the season. Eyebrows were raised at how the stars seemed to be lining up, with ESPN executives on the defensive after commentator Tony Kornheiser intimated on “Pardon the Interruption” that the fix is in by NASCAR to get Earnhardt to Victory Lane on the anniversary of his father’s death.

“I can tell you for sure that ESPN doesn’t agree with what he said,” said Rich Feinberg, ESPN vice president of motorsports.

Three-time Daytona 500 champion Dale Jarett, an ESPN analyst, didn’t try to mask his anger in defense of Earnhardt’s honest qualifying effort and the work he’s put forth trying to turn around his career: “Dale Earnhardt Jr. is in a very good race car down here. He’s always run well here if you give him good equipment.”

All fix talk was dismissed after the accident which now puts Earnhardt at the back of the 43-car field.

The truth behind his strong qualifying effort goes back to Rick Hendrick, who just days after Jimmie Johnson won his fifth consecutive championship, overhauled his driver-crew chief lineup to pair Earnhardt with Steve Letarte, his third crew chief in three years.

Hendrick said the pressure never ceases in trying to get his driver back to Victory Lane.

“Everybody expects me or Dale to wave some magic wand and he’s going to lead every lap and win every race,” Hendrick said. . “I’m there for him, and I can’t tell you how I would handle what he’s trying to handle. He’s getting it from everywhere. He has no safe zone.”

The safe zone could be the cockpit of his No. 88 Chevrolet. His mood lifted once he arrived in Daytona; his confidence growing after leading laps in last weekend’s Budweiser Shootout and winning the pole. He wants to be better — to win — and that he figures is the best way to honor his father’s legacy.

“The anniversary of my father’s death, just regular wear and tear, responsibilities — those aren’t on my mind as much as just sheer performance. Enough is enough was last year. I’m ready to get going and get to the race track and see if we can turn things around,” he said.