Why is Dale Earnhardt Jr. So popular?

Question

I have to ask, whats the big deal about Dale Earnhardt jr.? What good has he done? Please give me a few FACTS as to why he is a good racer. Despite being the son of one of the best racers ever, what good has he done? Shouldn't he have to do more than just be born? If his last name wasn't Earnhardt, would he still be popular? When has he ever had a really good season? Why was his dad able to win with the same team while he can't? Why would Teresa Earnhardt give control of her company to someone with just average stats? Why is just an average racer the most popular? I think when someone is popular in a sport because of their name and not because of what they do on the track, it shows a total lack of respect for the sport. Dale jr. is not Dale sr and will never be in the same league. Next year with Hendrix, when he can't make excuses, it will be interesting to see how many fans he still has when he is still just average.

Answer 1

The only reason JR is so popular is because of the name. His dad and grandfather were both great drivers. If JR wants to live up to his dads legend, he needs to learn to put the pedal to the metal. It seems as though he forgot how to drive. I believe he will lose many fans also. It sucks when a driver that is popular changes numbers and sponsors. Man, I feel sorry for all the people that were JR fans and spent all that money. Most people probably felt very secure with spending there money on JR stuff because of him driving for DEI, I mean who thought he would leave the company his dad founded. But now that Teresa (that dumb bytch) took over I sure dont blame him for leaving. Give her a few years and I hope I get to see her fall on her face. Then she will have to go running to JR and I hope he says he** NO!
GO STEWART

Answer 2

Okay, here is my opinion on Dale Jr. We all know why Dale Jr is the most popular driver in NASCAR. To say he sucks, I think, would be unfair. Dale Jr has 18 wins in his career right now. That's as many as Matt Kenseth and more than Kevin Harvick, who have been in Sprint Cup just as long as Dale Jr has. Harvick has gone longer without a win than Dale Jr yet people aren't constantly saying Harvick sucks. Jeff Gordon hasn't won since 2007 but we know he doesn't suck. Everybody seems to have such high expectations for Dale Jr because of who his father was that they think he should have something like 2 championships, 40 wins, and be very successful in NASCAR by now and because he doesn't that means he sucks. People don't realize how hard it is to win races. Compared to Jimmie Johnson, Dale Jr sucks. Compared to most other drivers, he has had a great career. I'm not really a Dale Jr fan either, I just get tired of what people say about him.

Answer 3

There are several reasons for his popularity:

1) Family name- nothing wrong with that. It's a part of his dad's and grandfathers legacy.
2) 2 Busch championships. That takes talent.
3) 17 wins. Until this year, he'd been pretty consistent. Has his driving changed? No. I'd blame his team. Guess we'll find out next year.
4) He's had a penchant for winning big races. Daytona, Talladega, etc.
5) His country boy image. The guys relate to it, the women think it's hot. My wife doesn't care much for the pretty boys like Gordon and Kahne. She thinks Jr.'s hot.
6) He is generous with his time and his money & has helped a lot of terminally ill children.
7) He's pretty smart about marketing himself too.

Other than that, I can't understand why he's so popular.

Answer 4

For one like everyone else said ,its due to who his dad was. Another reason is because he drove a beer car and also I feel that people pull for Jr ,because they want to jump on the bandwagon . However there are probley Jr fan's out there who simply like him for none of the reason that I mentioned above.

I guess that since he has gone to HMS we will find out just how many fans he really has ,as the majority of Jr and Gordon fan's are rival's.

I look at it this way...Richard Petty is a 7 time champion and won 200 race's so people thought that Kyle would be the same . NOW people think that just because Dale Sr was a 7 time champion that Jr will be just a successful .

Also I think that when Jr's car caught fire in the Rolex race that it kind of scared him .

Answer 5

I thought the same thing until I saw his interview on 60 minutes. He is a very down to earth guy. He is from NC and you can tell it by the way he talks. The Hendrick guys could take a few lessons from him. The fans can identify with him. He is the kind of guy I would like to go fishing with.
By the way, he can drive as good as any driver out there.

Answer 6

i dont think of dale jr by his father.i like him cause hes a good driver.he keeps his head and dont mouth of to his crew cheif like some do.jr has done alot in busch so give him a break and let him drive he will be a champion.now that he is going to a better team he will be doing alot of winning you watch and see.jr is the best there is besides stewart.

Answer 7

I'm a fan of Jr's because I like his personality. Whenever something goes wrong on the track he NEVER blames anyone (Except himself) until he reviews the incident several times!! I love that about him. And even tho he has been voted the most popular driver, he doesn't let that go to his head, he's still just a good ol boy doing what he loves, RACING! He's a clean driver, but doesn't let himself get taken advantage of. He has the worse dang luck but never let's it defeat him he just keeps plugging on! He's so great!

Answer 8

Just imagine how popular he may be when he wins a Cup and, he will. That's what scares you isn't it? Losing to a loser.

The potential earnings he could bring an owner are unlimited and yet, so far he's just average, some say.

Hendrick will deliver a team capable of winning Cups, multiple Cups. Why? He wants to make more money than Gordon or Johnson can make for him. Priorities! Gordon and Johnson aren't going to be very happy to discover the pecking order has changed at Hendrick.

How's it going to feel to have all of your "greatest drivers there have ever been" get pasted by a "no talent, coat tail riding hack?

Now here's the thing. It doesn't matter to me if he ever wins a Cup. I like him and that's the way it will remain. The only thing that will change is an increase of pride in the 50 plus year history of his family's NASCAR connection. A legacy of no less than 10 NASCAR Championships and over 580 wins; with more to come. Earnhardts earned nearly all of those wins and Championships after their 33rd birthday. Junior's 33rd Birthday is October 10.

Here are those FACTS, you requested and I'd like to see you argue with them.

At the age of 32, Senior had 11 Wins (6.96%), 56 Top 5's (35.44%), 86 Top 10's (54.43%), 7 Poles, average finish was 18th with 40 lead lap finishes out of 158 races (25.32%). He was running at the finish 106 times (67.088%) and he had led 4,337 laps out of 43,153 he ran (10.05%).

Junior has 17 Wins (6.137%), 73 Top 5's 117 (26.354%), 117 Top Tens (42.24%), 7 Poles, average finish 16.2 with 175 lead lap finishes out of 277 races (63.18%). He was running at the finish 240 times (86.64%) and he's led 5,399 laps out of the 78,451 laps he has run (6.88%).

Senior had a Cup and Junior has an early win in the Daytona 500. Senior got lucky and earned that Cup, by a 19-point margin over another driver who had struggled for years and who I pulled for long before he became a 3-time Champ, Cale Yarborough. Junior earned the early 500 Win because he's a good racer!

Given the difficulty of leading and winning in the current climate, I'd say Junior is better than his Dad at age 32.

If I were a NASCAR driver and was aware of these stats, I'd be very, very nervous.

Whether you like it or not the face of NASCAR is an Earnhardt (Gordon's too slick, Johnson's too bland and Tony, well, no way since that wrasslin crack) and in Junior they have an ambassador that most people like, just for the man he is.

Hendrick recognizes that Junior, given the complete support he never got from DEI (Theresa) since his Father's death, can take the sport to a new plateau of popularity.

Since a lot of people only support winners, can you imagine the new fans Junior could deliver as a Champ? After all, he is already the sports most popular driver and yet to some fans, he's a loser.

If a fan only supports a driver because he's a winner on the track; to me, that's being a loser.

If Junior's name wasn't Earnhardt, I would still like the man. On the other hand, Gordon could change his name to Earnhardt tomorrow and I still wouldn't like him, no matter how many races he may win.

Answer 9

17 wins. Daytona 500 winner. Pepsi 400 winner, also at Daytona. Multiple winner at Talledega. Won the Bud pole shootout his rookie year, first in history to do that, also he had to beat his dad to do that. Won Bristol with no front clip on his car. The man can drive a race car. He does not have the same team his father won with. Sr. drove for Richard Childres. He started DEI for his kids. Hence 1 of the reasons Jr. thought he should have more control of the company. 2nd reason would be the fact that Teresa would not spend any money to update the equipment in the shop. Thus they got behind with r & d and their succes fell off. If you don't like Jr. that is fine but atleast know a little of what you speak before you say things like this.

Answer 10

He's popular for several reasons - 2 being Budweiser as his sponsor and his dad. He had a lot of fans before Dale Sr. died but inherited some of Dale Sr's fans after he died. He carries himself well in the media also.

I think he did better when Tony Sr was his crew chief. He should have had a championship but pulled a bonehead move and wrecked himself by pulling over in front of Carl Edwards which took him out of the Chase one year. When his cars runs right he can drive.