Hope for Junior fans
The No. 8 crew e-mailed this out as part of their Bristol preview:
FAST OUT OF THE BLOCKS: With four races completed this season, Dale Jr.’s average finish is 12.25. Only once (2004) has Junior and the Bud team gotten off to a better start. The 2004 campaign featured two wins in the first four races (Daytona and Atlanta), giving Junior an average finish of 10.5.Season/Avg. finish after 4 races/(rank in points after four races)
2000: 17.75 (14th)
2001: 20.75 (16th)
2002: 18.25 (14th)
2003: 18.5 (10th)
2004: 10.50 (3rd)
2005: 25.25 (26th)
2006: 12.25 (7th)
I haven't been overwhelmed by Junior's 2006 performance. I'll tell you why after the jump ...
So far this year, he has an 8th, an 11th, a 27th and a 3rd. Compare that to 2004, when he won two of the first four races. He can do -- and has done -- better than what he's done in '06.
The flip side: Junior hasn't stunk this year. Yeah, he made a stupid mistake at Vegas last week when he lead-footed it out of the pits. But it seems like DEI has figured out how to keep up with the pack, more or less, at the 1.5 mile ovals - Junior finished on the lead laps at both California and Vegas. Both are good signs. And the No. 8 was absolutely flying out there near the end of the Atlanta race.
Good signs, all the way around.
Go ahead and rain on my parade in the comments.
Comments (1)
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It's encouraging for the Juniormaniacs... but lets wait a few more races to see if he can keep it up.
Posted on March 21, 2006 3:16 PM