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On June 15, 2008, Dale Earnhardt Jr. hit on a fuel-strategy gamble to win the Lifelock 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan International Speedway. In victory circle, Earnhardt crowed, My fans are happy, and Im happy for them. Its a big day for me. And then, the drought began. Earnhardt will go into Satur-
day nights Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway winless in 135 Cup starts since that grand day in Brooklyn, Mich. A total of 26 drivers have won a Cup race in that span. Jimmie Johnson tops the list with 21 victories. Whatever happened to Dale Earnhardt Jr.? In the 135-race shutout, Earnhardt has been bedeviled by factors ranging from a carousel at crew chief to running out of gas when leading at the finish. His popularity
remains unrivaled, but it is based more on the proud family name than his accomplishments. Im glad its not me, I can tell you that, said Cup series leader Greg Biffle, winless in his last 49 starts. Theres a lot of people wondering when hes going to win again. When you have a figure like that, that means a lot to our sport. Some of us joke a little bit about getting him a win. The anatomy of a 0-for-135 slump:
Earnhardts loyalty to cousin and crew chief Tony Eury Jr. (right) did little to change things as the slump worsened.
Chief difficulties
A look at Dale Earnhardt Jr.s performance by crew chiefs during his 135-race winless streak:
Crew chief Lance McGrew Steve Letarte Tony Eury Jr. Brian Whitesell Races 59 42 33 1 Top-5 4 7 5 0 Top-10 10 16 8 0
Dale Earnhardt Jr. celebrated a NASCAR Sprint Cup victory at Brooklyn, Mich., on June 15, 2008, but has since gone 135 races without winning. Even the backing of powerful Hendrick Motorsports hasnt gotten Earnhardts career on track.
Jamie McMurray crossed the finish line .119 of a second ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the 2010 Daytona 500, the closest call Earnhardt has had in the six second-place showings he has made in his winless run.
he bumped Harvick, he likely would have been involved in a wreck. Kansas, June 5, 2011: For the second consecutive week, fuel strategy worked against Earnhardt. A week earlier at Charlotte, Earnhardt led coming out of the final turn and ran out of fuel. He coasted in at seventh. At Kansas, Brad Keselowski did not make a green-flag stop for fuel
and took the lead by 10 seconds over Earnhardt with 10 laps remaining. Keselowski rationed his fuel and beat Earnhardt by 2.813 seconds. Daytona, Feb. 27, 2012: Earnhardt began the final lap trailing two Roush-Fenway Racing drivers, Matt Kenseth and Biffle. As Biffle gave Kenseth a needed push, Earnhardt inexplicably did not team up with Denny Hamlin. Earnhardt passed
Biffle, but without a push partner, did not have enough to catch Kenseth. Hamlin said he was willing to help Earnhardt and I didnt understand the late-race strategy. Earnhardt said his only chance was to get behind Kenseth and use the slingshot move in the home stretch. Earnhardt getting a push from Hamlin would not have helped him enough to catch Kenseth.
Tomorrows best
A look at the wins leaders during the Car of Tomorrow era:
Driver Jimmie Johnson Kyle Busch Denny Hamlin Tony Stewart Carl Edwards No. 27 20 16 15 14