BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Excuse or no excuse?
You make the call about why Dale Earnhardt Jr. went on the attack against NASCAR and the Sprint Cup car on Friday at Michigan International Speedway.
NASCAR's most popular driver, a title that may be in doubt with Tony Stewart's souvenir sales pushing him for weekend supremacy, called for stock car racing's governing body to let its car evolve more freely.
He said the racing was so poor before double-file restarts were implemented in June that "95 percent of the race wasn't worth the price of the ticket."
Some might say Earnhardt was making excuses for a dreadful season that has him 25th in points with only three top-10s. Stewart, who leads the point standings, said he was pleased with the way his car has been handling.
Jeff Gordon somewhat sided with his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, admitting things could be done to make the car handle better in traffic and produce more passing up front.
That helped Earnhardt's argument. It's hard to say he's making excuses when a four-time Sprint Cup champion is in your camp.
But nobody was as outspoken as Earnhardt. He called for the media to examine the issue and for drivers to be more vocal about it. And he did it at the track where, in June 2008, NASCAR held a town hall-type meeting with drivers encouraging all to be less critical of the car.
NASCAR, for the record, has said it plans only small tweaks to the car for fear of setting teams back competitively and financially with major changes.
"What I'm getting at is I think we need to open our eyes a little bit," Earnhardt said. "Everyone. NASCAR could probably be a little more urgent in improving our product, where the ultimate result is great, exciting racing that the fans will enjoy, that the drivers enjoy, so everyone is happy."
In Earnhardt's defense, representatives from General Motors, Ford and Toyota agreed earlier in the week that they'd like to see the car racier at the front. But when a manufacturer speaks, only a few people outside the NASCAR hauler seem to listen.
When Earnhardt speaks, everybody's ears perk up.
"I'm not trying to start a crusade against nobody or cause nobody any problems," Earnhardt said. "I think the drivers, myself included, we would all work together with NASCAR to do this. I'm just trying to remind everyone of the optimal goal and prize for us is to have better racing.
"Even when things are good, we shouldn't rest on any success we may be having. We're not really where we want to be, I don't think, as a sport. We need to do things to excite corporate America and excite the fans. We need to be proactive immediately to make that happen."
Understood. At the same time Earnhardt needs to figure out how to drive the new car just as Stewart and Gordon and others battling for a spot in the Chase have.
If he's still complaining about the car, then he will take "excuse" out of the equation and perhaps more people will listen.
David Newton
