THE TIRE RIM DRIVER CAREER PROFILE: DALE EARNHARDT JR.

Brett Winningham
3/22/2011 11:45 pm


    

                    Dale Earnhardt jr. has been racing in NASCAR since 1996 and is still racing today in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series and the NASCAR Nationwide series part time this year.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. made his first NASCAR Bush series start at Myrtle Beach on June 22^nd 1996.  21 year old Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 14^th in his first NASCAR career start.  Later on in 1999 Dale made his 1^st NASCAR Sprint cup series start at Charlotte Motor Speedway where he finished 16^th that day.  In 1998 Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a breakout season he won 7 NASCAR Busch series races and won his first NASCAR Bush Series championship.  In 2000 Dale Earnhardt Jr. won his 1^st NASCAR Winston Cup series race at Texas Motor Speedway and Richmond in that same year.  In 2004 Dale had his best NASCAR season he won 6 NASCAR Nextel Cup races including NASCAR’s biggest race the Daytona 500, in that same year Dale won 2 NASCAR Bush Series races.  In 2009 Dale Earnhardt Jr. took a big tumble that hurt his NASCAR Sprint cup series career.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. will always be one of the drivers to watch out on the race track on Sunday in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series, and Jr. Nation will always be in the stands during each NASCAR Sprint Cup series race.  In 2010 Dale Earnhardt Jr. gained some momentum for himself while driving the famous number 3 car at Daytona International speedway in July’s NASCAR Nationwide series race Dale Earnhardt Jr. went to victory lane for his 23^rd NASCAR Nationwide Series win.  In 2011 Dale Earnhardt Jr. got Steve letarte as a new crew chief which boosted Dale Earnhardt Jr’s confidence level, and has came close to winning several NASCAR races this year.  Some fans says that they won’t be surprised if we see Dale Jr. win a race or two soon with how well the number 88 has performed lately on the race track.  On Tuesday I asked 3 questions to a diehard Dale Jr. fan named Lacy Keyser.

Q. how long have you been cheering for dale Jr.?

Lacy: I have been a Junior fan for a lot of years to be honest if Dale wouldn’t have died I would have liked him a lot sooner than I did.

Q. do you think Dale Earnhardt Jr, will win a race in 2011 and how many?

Lacy: I Think Junior have every bit a chance to win a race don’t want to get cocky here but I think he could win 3 races I really do. Steve is very great with helping Junior out

Q. what is your most favorite accomplishment of Dale Earnhardt Jr’s NASCAR career?

Lacy: There’s so many things that Junior has done with his career I just don’t know which one... But I guess when he won in that 3 car at Daytona. Seeing that Wrangler 3 car back on the track was amazing I had always wanted to see that car but I wasn't born when that car was around.. I loved seeing him go out there and honor his daddy like he did it was pure amazing and it made me cry I wasn't ashamed to cry either.  Thank you lacy for taking part in the interview.