DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR chairman Brian France and Dale Earnhardt Jr., arguably the two highest-profile figures in the Sprint Cup Series, visited the media center at Daytona International Speedway on Friday.
Both are dealing with an image problem.
France's image problem is the sport's image. Television ratings and attendance are down; manufacturers and sponsors are pulling back; and the court battle with Jeremy Mayfield over his failed drug test is getting just as much attention as the actual races -- or more.
Heck, France spent most of his 35-minute news conference talking about Mayfield and defending NASCAR's testing program.
Earnhardt's image also is under fire. He's buried at 19th in the points standings. His fans are somewhat disgruntled, and points leader Tony Stewart is challenging his popularity in terms of souvenir sales.
But if he miraculously turned around what he admits has been a disappointing season, he indirectly could help solve France's problem. When the sport's most popular driver is having a good season, ratings and attendance rise and there's a general sense that all is well.
So NASCAR and France need Earnhardt to succeed. They need him to make the Chase.
That would give France a break from the negative attention, kind of like the same-day death of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett gave South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford a break from negative attention about his affair.
AP Photo/Terry Renna
Dale Earnhardt Jr. would like to see things heat up for him on the track.
OK, maybe that's a bad example.
But you get the point. France and NASCAR need Earnhardt to step up -- now.
Unfortunately, fixing Earnhardt's problems are no easier than convincing Sanford he needs to stop talking. Junior won't make the Chase unless the six drivers between him and the top 12 have a major collapse over the next nine weeks.
And even then he'd have to, as he said, "top-10 'em to death" to erase a 285-point deficit.
Considering Earnhardt has only three top-10s in the first 17 events, none of them since Lance McGrew replaced Tony Eury Jr. as his crew chief, that's not likely.
Earnhardt knows this. He already has adjusted his goals. Instead of winning races and challenging for that elusive title, he wants to win a race or two and improve.
"At the end of the year, when you're done racing at Homestead, what kind of feeling do you want to have?" he said. "The one I want to have is we fixed it, that we have something we feel good about, that we can work on and get our stuff ready for next year."
Earnhardt believes he's moving in that direction, even though the results -- 12, 27, 14, 26, 13 -- since McGrew took over don't necessarily support that. He was excited about racing into the top three last week at New Hampshire.
"The team has got a great attitude and it seems to get better with each run," Earnhardt said. "It seems to show a little more promise. Everybody is working so hard.
"We obviously, once we get back to where we want to be, will appreciate that much more than we probably did in the past. … It's been a trying time, and our team was really low. Just knowing where we were and how I felt two months ago is a big difference to us."
In other words, he still has a long way to go to improve his team and his image.
Sorry, Brian. You're on your own.
David Newton
