Theresa Earnhardt - Did she make sure Jr blew an engine on purpose ?

Question

He has had more engine or equipment failures as DEI's #1 car since his announcement to leave than in history. Sabotage or coincidence ? Please tell me your opinion as a true fan who knows NASCAR. 20+ years talking here so all you new people just please don't bother (sorry, you don't even understand aerodynamics) and trolls I will just ignore you so don't bother. You won't even get a rise out of me. He congratulated his guys after he blew up and was proud for trying. More than you guys do in a lifetime so just shut up.

This is not the forst time Jr has had engine failure since he announced he would leave DEI Mearn

I am not too sure Theresa would look good if Jr left DEI making the chase cookiemonster. He is popular to fans for gear with or without wins as far as t-shirts etc... I do not think she would want him to leave DEI making the chase since he did not make it last year.

By the way, excellent point Debbie. I do think we will see a difference. You do not see Truex Jr breaking down every week, do you ? He is not the #1 car DEI has. Jr is and he should not be the one, if any, suffering from mechanical breakdown.

Hey 'a few too many' who are you?

Answer 1

You are on to something. It isnt just a coincidence that he has had 5 blown engines!!!!!!!
He drove his heart out tonight and might have even won this race but isnt it odd that with only 5 laps to go, whoosh another blown engine????
God that really pizzed me off to no end!!!!!!!!!!
The other great thing about him is that he is a classy young man, no whining, no blaming someone else, taking his loss like a real man!!!!!!!

Answer 2

You know, for about 5 seconds I understood why people were saying its not sabotage because Theresa doesn't build the engines herself, but if in other sports don’t we call for a new gm or head coach if our team does badly? He’s not the one throwing the ball, or not making his blocks but they put the players on the field that didn’t make the play.

Here we have something very close to the same thing. We have a team owner that hates her stepson will do anything to see him fail no matter how bad it looks on DEI because this is no longer business its personal.

We have to think who has the final decision on what engines go in what cars, what crew builds these engines, what parts are available to build them with, and how much time the equipment is used to test each engine.......... well the final answer is Theresa

The 1 car runs in the top of the field a lot even coming from the back a few times and I don’t seem to remember 4 blown engines in the 1 car, I haven’t heard a blown engine in the 15 car this yr either so tell me why JR has had 4 blown engines.

Theresa has been out for JR this whole yr she wont let him have the 8 because it means too much to DEI. What does it mean to DEI except its jr. other than jr it hasn’t been used by one driver for more than a yr since 1983 - 1990 when Bobby Hillin Jr used it. So it shows that long as its not jr in the 8 she is happy. Just as long as its not jr in the winners circle she is happy.

She is going to run the good DEI name that she thinks she helped build into the ground. she knows nothing more about nascar than how to cash their checks and spend the money, just look how the team has done since sr left us and this fact is proved. (and b4 you rookies jump on that sr didnt drive for DEI so his driving record didnt effect DEI)

I just hope her giving him bad supplies don’t break him down at the wrong time and it ends up hurting anyone besides her.

Answer 3

Making an engine blow up on purpose is reasonably easy to do...but to get it to last until the final 10 laps and blowing up is mighty difficult.

So tonights failure wasn't on purpose, it was just Jr pushing real hard to try to make the Chase. Now, when that become impossible with 20 to go, he didn't back off since he still wanted to win so he may have just stretched the engine a touch too much. DEI might have given Jr first crack at any upgrades in the hope to get an advantage with newer technology so maybe that was where the trouble lay; fast but fragile...who knows?

As for the other failures...I don't buy that whole "he's leaving next year so she won't want him to do well" argument one bit since Renault were in the same position with Fernando Alonso in F1 last year yet they won the title. No deep, dark conspiracy theory that I can see but hey, some people like to read too much into things and that's their opinion.

Answer 4

Having built a number of engines I just can't think of a way to make sure an engine will last exactly 296 miles and then blow up. Short of some kind of radio-control detonator as suggested before.

Other DEI drivers have had engine problems. I don't know what's going on in DEI's engine shop but the fact that Jr.'s engine grenades more often than the other guys' just makes me want to look at his driving style. If we could see the telemetry data from the 8, 15, 1, 01, I'd not be surprised to see that Junebug habitually uses slightly higher shift points, or revs higher before dropping the clutch. Clearly they have some marginal parts in those things and stuff like that could be pushing them over the edge.

Given Jr.'s situation today I'd also bet that his engine had what drag racers call "the big tuneup." Trying to squeeze a few more hp out of an engine also puts more stress on parts.

I'm far from being one of Theresa's admirers, but I just can't grant any credence to all these bizarre conspiracy theories. All team owners want to win championships, that's how you get sponsors and sell merchandise.

Answer 5

You know it's a shame for Jr., but don't you think Theresa would benefit immensely by his winning? It would make the whole operation look great, not just Jr., and at this point they could use some good PR. I don't think they're out looking for a bad reputation...

Sure, she would look good, cause the cars would look good! This is all business, the decision has been made, and who cares now. Jr. is good as gone, but DEI has to look like they can win races, or at least compete at a top level. Sponsors want results, they don't care who's in the car, be it Jr. or Buckshot Jones, if the car is in the front, the sponsors keep forking over the money. Right now, it looks like DEI can't build a car that will compete, and if I were a sponsor, I'd be wondering what I'm putting my money into.

Answer 6

I can't see Theresa making something like that happen, even if she wanted to. If Dale wins, Theresa benefits too. I doubt she would mess with that. As angry as she may be right now, I don't think she has anything to do with the recent issues. I think it's just bad luck for Jr.

Answer 7

No she had anything to do with it, its just the same ole CRAPY DEI engines, they are great if you just cruise thru a race and not drive your *** off to try to win it for your guys and your team. Jr had to drive the race of his life tonight, and it goes to show you that DEI doesn't have it at this time...I've been a Nascar follower for over 20yrs, its the engines not Theresa...as much as I would like to blame her, she is part of DEI but she doesn't install the engines.....Now that all of this is settled he is not in the chase...now he can go out and try to win a couple races before he gets his *** away from this crappy engine team......GO DALE JR....I'm with you all the way...You will be HMS next yr, I doubt he will ever see this many blown engines in his entire contract with HMS...Dale JR did win races with DEI, sad part is they use to have it now they don't, everyone caught up with them... Jr is a class act guy, he always thanks his team, even when theyhave a bad night, he's not slamming and banging his hand into his hauler, he is just sad for his fans that have been with him thru all this....and yep this fan will always be with all the way just like I was his dad... Nope no sabotage here, just the same ole DEI Crap....I won't be a DEI fan next yr...I will be cheering him on at HMS...Go Dale Jr GO..this fan is with you..

Answer 8

That would be hard to say but something sure does look fishy. I found it odd a long time ago when she gave her other engine builder a desk job and brought in a new guy as engine builder. They use to not have a problem with the engines. I believe most of their problems in the beginning were due to the fact they didn't spend enough effort on the 7 post shaker working at car setups. I think she mistook the problems as being engine problems and driver problems and moved the engine builder when she should have been focusing on other areas. The engine builder they had was one that was from Hendicks when they were running so well before.

Answer 9

The fact that the engine blew is just some thing that happens. I don't think she made an engine let go like that. Why would she waste money on some one to throw a race like that. Beside do you think Bud his top sponsor would put up with it. And NASCAR would look into it real fast. Knowing she would be trying to make one of the most popular drivers look bad would be stupid. Not having Jr. in her stable was her first mistake I don't think she would be stupid enough to throw a race.

Answer 10

I seriously doubt Terresa had anything to do with Dale's engine failures. I know it may seem odd that of his 5 dnf's this season, 4 of which were due to engine failures while he was running in the top 5, I do not think she had a thing to do with it. Maybe since his announcement like many others from other teams he and his crew are left to fend for themselves a bit but remember. She has to keep her husbands legacy alive so anything she could do to harm Dale's chances would only in the end hurt that dream.

I am dissappointed that he missed out making the case but the season is not over and he and tony both promised their team and their fans a win before the seasons out. I expect to see that as Dale has driven his *** off and proved beyond a doubt that he belongs in Nextel. When you do all you can do to win and failures prevent that we always want to blame someone.

His step mom deserves a break. I am sure she would like to see any of her cars in victory lane, including and especially Dale's.

I was very proud of Dale tonight and of the way he drove! But alot of racing has to do with luck and timing.

I remember Bill loosing a championship to Darryl Waltrip at riverside because of a 25 cent transmission linkage part. Poo Poo happens. LOL

Answer 11

It is kind of strange that Truex has had a more reliable and faster piece than Dale has since he announced he was leaving huh? I do think Martin is getting the better equipment but Jr. can still outrun him until he blows up or breaks lately. These folks who say Jr. has no talent are totally wrong and I think the results next year will prove that.