Kenseth led laps, but the No. No one knew it at the time, but it would be Earnhardt's final win with Dale Earnhardt Inc. For the first time in four years -- and races -- Earnhardt Jr. A subdued Junior thanked the fans for sticking with him after a dominant showing at Michigan. Oh, and then Junior launched a new era -- DaleJr.
June 8, , Pocono Raceway, Pocono Brad Keselowski had the car to beat, but debris on his grille with five laps to go caused him to cede the lead to Dale Jr. Junior then pulled away for the victory, his second of and first at the 'Tricky Triangle. Dale Jr. The sting of being eliminated from the postseason the week before was abated with a win at one of the most historic tracks on the circuit, Martinsville Speedway. This one came days after what would have been his father's 64th birthday and had the Hendrick Motorsports driver choked up in Victory Lane.
Anthony Davis fills up stat sheet against Suns. Coming off and looking ahead, it's a great time to be a Georgia fan. Lou Williams has been Stephen Curry-like of late for Clippers.
Wizards have a fivesome that ranks among the best in the game. It's a great time to be the Rockets' defense. Can Rudy Gobert-less Jazz keep pesky Nuggets off the glass? Another Iron Bowl clash between No. Kirk Cousins thriving even when Redskins are not. Can Thunder's struggling D slow a better-than-ever Warriors offense?
Elias Says: November 18, Thunder still trying to mesh ahead of matchup at Spurs. Rams offense brings back some of the 'greatest' memories. But it's what Junior has lacked far too much over the last seven seasons—most notably consistency and momentum—that finds him where he is today: Still searching for his first Sprint Cup championship. And with each season that's gone by, the same guy who won two Busch Series championships in the late s grows further and further away from what he's sought ever since he slid behind the wheel of a race car.
At this juncture, Earnhardt may never win that elusive Cup title. Obviously, his chances get smaller and smaller as each season passes. But his lack of a crowning achievement in the Cup ranks isn't something you can pin solely on Junior. You can't say he ran out of talent, you can't say he doesn't want to win and you most definitely can't say he doesn't want that championship worse than anything in the world. But what you can say is he's perhaps one of the most snake-bitten drivers in the garage when it comes to bad luck and misfortune.
And it's there that the real likely reason why he's failed to win a championship resides. Look at He spent the first half of the season leading the standings or in second place. Then he had that horrific crash and resulting fire, when he blacked out briefly upon impact while practicing for an American LeMans Series race in Sonoma, Calif.
End result: While he did go on to win three races after his crash-and-burn episode part of a career-high six wins in a season , Earnhardt ultimately finished fifth in the final standings. Or how about After not having a win for more than two years, he finally came through at Michigan.
Expectations were high afterward that he had put the worst slump of his career behind him and that lots of wins would soon be forthcoming. End result: He would go on to have over more starts before he finally reached victory lane in a Cup car again.
And then there was In a year in which he had his best overall performance since , Earnhardt not only hovered near the top of the standings for the first 26 races prior to the Chase for the Sprint Cup, he finally won a race again. End result: But there was a concussion during testing at Kansas in August that he never told anyone about, followed by being caught up in a huge wreck at Talladega during the Chase that resulted in a second concussion and forced him to sit out two races, ending his championship hopes yet again.
Is Earnhardt cursed? You certainly could make a case for that, based upon some of the crazy things that have happened to him. Even this season, he started out well, ranging from first to fifth through the course of the first 11 races. But as he enters this Sunday's race at Dover, kicking off the second third of the race season, he's dropped back to a season-low of sixth place. He's had three top-five and seven top finishes in the first 12 races, which isn't bad.
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