Most of the time, clichés tend to be overused, but looking back at the week of events surrounding Dale Earnhardt Jr., the phrase “Be careful what you wish for” couldn?t be more apropos.
I?m not saying Junior made the wrong decision. After two straight seasons of disappointing results, contract disputes and friction between himself and stepmother Teresa Earnhardt, it was clear that the time was right for him to move on and leave Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
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But the big question is, just where will Junior move on to? Almost every Chevy team owner in the garage, and at least one non-Chevy owner, has expressed an interest in offering him a contract. With powerhouse teams like Hendrick Motorsports, Childress Racing and Gibbs Racing competing for his services, how can Junior go wrong?
Well, there is one way. He could start his own team.
Earnhardt was adamant in his contract negotiations with DEI that he wanted controlling ownership of the organization. With that no longer a possibility, there is an outside chance that he could start his own Cup team next season.
“Our last choice would be to form our own Cup team,” said Earnhardt?s sister and business manager, Kelley Earnhardt-Elledge. “But if that was necessary, that is what we would do.”
So what would be so bad about Earnhardt being an owner-driver in the Nextel Cup series? Nothing, really ? unless he wants to win races and compete for championships.
Being an NASCAR owner by itself is not an easy thing to do, but successfully being an owner-driver in the Nextel Cup series in this day and age is nearly impossible.
The last owner-driver to win a Cup series championship was Alan Kulwicki, in 1992. Since then, drivers like Bill Elliott, Darrell Waltrip and Ricky Rudd ? some of the best in the sport ? have all tried and failed to compete for championships owning their own cars. The last time a Cup series owner-driver even got to victory lane was back in 1998 when Rudd won at Martinsville.
Certainly, drivers like Elliott and Waltrip were capable of winning championships ? both already had done so for other owners ? but they quickly found out that as NASCAR began to shift toward large multi-car teams with lots of money and specialized personnel, fielding a winning team took so much effort that on-track performance suffered.
And that is exactly the opposite of what Junior is looking for right now.
“I could live with not winning a championship,” he said at Darlington. “But I don’t want to. I want to win a championship, and I want to win races.”
Could he win a championship, or even consistently win races, as an owner-driver? Anything is possible. But at this point, he has the opportunity to drive for some of the best teams and owners in NASCAR.
If Junior starts his own team, he would likely be left wondering if he wished for the right thing.
Get up to speed on the latest in NASCAR by listening to Wilson?s Race Report every Monday and Friday at 5:39 p.m. on 93.1 WPOC. You can e-mail Steve at [email protected].
