Following Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s eighth-place run at Las Vegas Motor Speedway he appeared to channel Richard Gere’s Zack Mayo character in "An Officer and a Gentleman."
“I got nowhere else to go,” Earnhardt said Sunday in a brutally honest moment with reporters after the NASCAR Sprint Cup race.
While there was great desperation in Gere’s voice as he said the same words, Earnhardt was matter-of-fact as he appeared to come to the realization of his fate.
“Failure at this point is completely unacceptable, and I’ve got to put it all out on the line, do everything I can to make this work,” Earnhardt said. “ 'Cause if it don’t work with him, I got nowhere else to go. I got no other options, really other than just to race myself into oblivion with my own team and (JRM Motorsports crew chief) Tony (Eury) Jr. and them guys. And what the hell ever.
“But I want this to work. I want to race Cup. I want to be in a (Cup new-model car) the rest of my career as long as I can and I want to be successful. Just trying to work hard, man. Ain’t nothing to talk about until we start winning. But we’re getting there. We’re getting better. It feels like it’s working.”
Since Earnhardt Jr. left the comfortable confines of Dale Earnhardt Inc. and jumped to Hendrick Motorsports in 2008, the pressure has been unbelievably intense, not just on the driver but on everyone surrounding the operation.
Even team owner Rick Hendrick acknowledges that creating a comfortable environment for Earnhardt to achieve his potential is the most difficult challenge he has faced on the competition side of racing.
The Earnhardt dilemma was one of the catalysts for the driver/crew chief shake-up at Hendrick Motorsports at the end of last season, which involved shifting the crew chief-driver pairings for three of the organization's four teams. Hendrick seemed convinced Steve Letarte was the right crew chief for the Earnhardt job. Although Letarte had received criticism after four-time champion Jeff Gordon went 65 races without a victory, Letarte's role as Mr. Congeniality would serve Earnhardt well.
Hendrick says he likes what he has seen of the pairing.
“I know that just in the chemistry of listening to them on the radio — Junior being here in the garage area when it opens and being with the team when they go through inspection,” Hendrick said. “That’s sign enough for me that everybody is motivated to do the best they can. I’m convinced that we’re going to have a good year. I think it was the right move.
“He’s proven he knows how to drive a race car. I think the world of him, and his confidence is a lot better this year than it has been. We just need to get some good races under our belt. I know he can do it. He knows he can do it. We have to get him in the right situation and get him comfortable, and I think Stevie is going to do that this year. . . . You just have to not pay attention to all the other pressure that’s out there and show up and do your job. The rest will take care of itself.”
That’s precisely what Letarte did Saturday afternoon. When Happy Hour practice was over, he picked Junior up at his motor coach and drove from the track down Las Vegas Boulevard to the Strip, taking in the sites on the way to dinner. The opportunity afforded the teammates the chance to discuss strategy in a relaxed environment, far away from the pressure-packed racetrack.
“I’ve learned what the fans love about Dale Jr.,” Letarte said Monday on Sirius Radio. “What they love about Dale Jr. is he’s like an every guy’s guy. He’s a pretty simple guy. He likes to hang out. And that’s what we did: We hung out in Las Vegas. . . . It got our minds in the direction for Sunday.
“Dale’s feedback was real great all weekend long. He stayed patient with the car when it wasn’t right. The crew stay patient, and we worked our way through it. I don’t want to ever be excited about top-10 finishes, but it’s no secret that starting the year we needed to get our feet on the ground and get momentum heading in the right direction."
Letarte and his engineers studied Earnhardt’s notes from the past two years before devising a game plan for the season. And Letarte knows the team still must provide Earnhardt with cars that are better dialed in when they unload off the truck.
He acknowledged Sunday that he adopted a conservative mode with the pit calls rather than “swinging for the fences.” Earnhardt didn’t have the fastest machine, but he had a car capable of running in the top five. The eighth-place finish was the team's second straight top 10.
Earnhardt was patient, as was the team. The crew executed solid pit stops that enabled Earnhardt to gain track position, or at least maintain it. After three weeks together, the new No. 88 team is building a solid foundation and Earnhardt and Letarte are developing a strong friendship.
“It‘s obvious that it is working when you really look at it,” Earnhardt said. “I was sitting there middle ways through the race thinking, ‘This is not a fluke. This is really how it’s supposed to go, how it should go.' It‘s how it went in the past when things go good. Hopefully, we can do it every week. Hopefully, we’re consistent like this.
“I used to get so pissed off running just inside the top 15. I used to think that was a terrible run. When we get back to that stage, we’ll be in good shape cause we‘ll have those expectations, that confidence that we should be running in the top five. That‘s a big part of it. We need to work better. We’ve gained a few things, made a few changes. Improved on a few things. It will be OK. It’s a good deal, though.”
The same Junior who defended his solemn demeanor on the media tour in January actually admitted Sunday he’s having fun again. When a driver is struggling, life is far from enjoyable. And while Earnhardt said he was satisfied with his life off the track, racing still defines the 36-year-old whether he wants it to or not. If Hendrick indeed has found the right chemistry for Earnhardt this time, it would be the greatest gift of all.
“It’s fun in this hauler, man,” Earnhardt said. “When you’re running good, everything is easier to do. But I really enjoy brainstorming with Steve, and I think having worked with him, I’ve become better at helping him just in a short period of time. But it’s fun to work with him, and I just want to do good.”