That’s why he’s not worried about relapsing into his old mopey ways now that he has a new crew chief in Greg Ives. The years working with Letarte, who retired from crew chiefing at the end of last season to take a job as an analyst with NBC, have given Earnhardt confidence that transcends his mood or his opinion of the car – so far, at least. Former crew chief Steve Letarte rescued Earnhardt Jr.’s career over the last four seasons by becoming his biggest cheerleader, thereby convincing him he was fast. However fast he thought his car was, he went out and proved it.
#NASCAR THE KING DRIVER#
Prediction: Gordon will win three races and qualify for the Chase but be eliminated before the season finale in Homestead.įor years, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s greatest strength and weakness as a driver were the same: He rose and fell with his confidence. On Sunday, he won the pole for the Daytona 500, which is a harbinger for absolutely nothing in the long term, but sure is a great way to start the year. He was a title contender last season and will be again this season.
![nascar the king nascar the king](https://www.sportscasting.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Richard-Petty-NASCAR.jpg)
#NASCAR THE KING DRIVERS#
Unlike many of his predecessors, Gordon will step away while he’s still among the best drivers in the sport. Every track will want to honor him in some way, as well each should, as the grandstands would not be so big (nor so full) if Gordon hadn’t pulled the sport into mainstream America in the mid-to-late Nineties. There will be ovations at drivers’ meetings before every race. The four-time champion says he doesn’t want the season to turn into a yearlong retirement party – but of course it will.Īfter every race he wins, there will be speculation it could be his last. Jeff Gordon announced in January that 2015 will be his final year as a full-time driver in NASCAR. The biggest change in NASCAR this season won’t really happen until next season. Johnson will use that advantage to win his seventh championship. Prediction: Drivers who handle a squirrely car better – Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch among them – stand to benefit from the changes. Very much so: It’s essentially the difference between facing a 100 mph fastball when the pitcher knows where it’s going and when he doesn’t. They do care, however, about how their cars handle.
![nascar the king nascar the king](https://cdn.motor1.com/images/mgl/2RveE/s1/drive-like-the-king-in-this-2002-dodge-intrepid-nascar-cup-car.jpg)
![nascar the king nascar the king](https://www.espn.com/photo/2011/0126/rpm_u_petty01_400.jpg)
They care so little about miles per hour that their race cars don’t even have speedometers. Other than that, they simply want to be faster than the rest of the cars on the track. Drivers don’t want to go so fast that it’s dangerous nor so slow that it’s ridiculous. The changes are designed to make it more difficult for the person in the front to stay there (or, depending on your point of view, to make it easier for the person behind to pass).īut here’s the funny thing about people who go fast for a living: They don’t particularly care how fast they go.
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To make the racing better, the sport has made the cars less powerful – by decreasing horsepower by 125 – and harder to drive, by making the rear spoiler two inches shorter, which will decrease downforce and make the back end whip around like a snapped power line. Let’s kick the tires on a couple of those topics. In short, there’s plenty to talk about ahead of Sunday’s Daytona 500, the race that officially begins the 2015 season. 'Silence of the Lambs': 'It Broke All the Rules'