FanNation - The Republic of Sport

thehemogoblin- Gone said 03/11, 06:27 PM
I'll make the unpopular choice and say "no" here.

If you look at Junior's career statistics, only 3 times out of 8 career seasons has he finished in the top six. The last time he won a race was just short of 2 years ago, and he's gotten 7 of his 17 career Nextel Cup wins on restrictor plate race tracks (5 at Talladega, 2 at Daytona).

Also, being a driver for Hendrick Motorsports doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to be great. Look at Casey Mears last year, finishing 15th, versus finishing 14th the year before racing for Chip Ganassi. Before that, Brian Vickers never finished higher than 15th in three-year stint as a Hendrick driver.

Good luck YanksFan.

thehemogoblin- Gone said 03/11, 06:46 PM
That one DNF this year is only in four races, that's a 25% do not finish rate, which is ridiculously horrible.

Can you see into the future? Why then do you predict he will do something that he hasn't done for two years?

Vickers isn't a bad driver. You can't tell me that he intentionally wiped out his own teammate in the Chase for the Nextel Cup, there's no way he did. Did he make a mistake, yes, does everyone at some point, yes.

Vickers has raced his Red Bull Toyota this year to the point where even if he doesn't qualify for this week's race at Bristol, he'll still be locked in the top 35 in the points standings the following week, guaranteeing him a starting position. Now you tell me that a "bad driver" could do that.

Mears GOT WORSE last year. Explain that. He went to Hendrick from Ganassi, and finished WORSE in the points.

Last year, however, in the same equipment as his teammate Martin Truex, Truex made the Chase for the Nextel Cup while Junior didn't. You can't blame the equipment, because Truex was driving the same stuff. It could be a driving style issue, he might cause his equipment to break faster due to aggressiveness, it might not be just the cars he had at DEI.

thehemogoblin- Gone said 03/11, 07:52 PM
Well, I'd like to thank you for agreeing with me, that was nice of you, however, there's no proof that he will succeed there.

I'm going to outline my points again though:

He hasn't won a race in nearly 2 years

7 of his 17 wins are on restrictor plate tracks, showing that he can't do it everywhere

Casey Mears went downhill last year, his first as a member of Hendrick Motorsports.

Martin Truex drove DEI's equipment better last year, proving that Dale Earnhardt Jr didn't take the car to it's fullest potential

Lastly, this is for the NASCAR is a Sport tourney #1