How to fix the #88? Put Alan in Charge?

#1
Burhead

Burhead

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#1
Time for another shake-up to Earnhardt's team - NASCAR - Yahoo! Sports

Let me first say as a Mark Martin fan I hope this doesn't happen. Rick has already screwed up a championship caliber team with the #5 this off season by moving personnel around to the #88 in hopes of getting them competitive. Jr is still running poorly and Mark's team has struggled and might not even make the Chase if things don't improve.

My concern is this, if Mark misses the chase there is no real incentive to keep Alan in the #5 camp. Rick needs to get Dale competitive again or else he'll start losing money. My fear is that Rick might even switch the entire team around to see if its the #88 team or Dale. Its also not fair to Alan in my opinion. Like the article said he built the #5 team from a struggling team to what was a championship contender, he should be forced into another rebuilding project that would be the #88 team.

Jenna Fryer does present an interesting scenario regarding Kenny Francis coming on board next year to start learning HMS equipment and such. I could see that happening since Kasey loves working with him and such.

Your thoughts?
 
#2
#2
How to fix the 88? Start with guy holding the steering wheel.
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#3
#3
I'm a Jr. fan, but sometime people just need to put it on him. I don't think McGrew is that great of a crew chief(outside of Kyle Busch in the Nationwide Series awhile back), but I don't think you could motivate Jr. regardless.

I still think he's a decent talent, but for whatever reason he has sucked with the COT's.(Part of being good is adaptability though) He also seems really burned out. Did anyone catch the interview with Marty Smith yesterday? I honestly think he needs someone to get on his case. If anyone climbs back aboard it should be Eury Sr. He will light a fire under JR's behind. I don't see that ever happening either.
 
#4
#4
TennesseeFan07 said:
I'm a Jr. fan, but sometime people just need to put it on him. I don't think McGrew is that great of a crew chief(outside of Kyle Busch in the Nationwide Series awhile back), but I don't think you could motivate Jr. regardless.

I still think he's a decent talent, but for whatever reason he has sucked with the COT's.(Part of being good is adaptability though) He also seems really burned out. Did anyone catch the interview with Marty Smith yesterday? I honestly think he needs someone to get on his case. If anyone climbs back aboard it should be Eury Sr. He will light a fire under JR's behind. I don't see that ever happening either.
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Yeah I saw read about it, IMO he needs to get away from HMS and run his own stuff after his contract runs out or see if Kevin would field him a car from KHI. I agree about Eury Sr being his next crew chief and stick Eury Jr as car chief that should help some. I also think he needs to start running more NNS and even CWTS races to start gaining his confidence back.

After his contract ends I highly doubt he'll re-sign with HMS, what could his options be? RCR would be full, could he reunite at EGR? Or does he bring JR Motorsports to Cup and run his own stuff or would Kevin field cars from KHI? My opinion is that he'd bring JRM to cup and align with RCR.
 
#6
#6
Jr. still brings a lot of money to HMS as a t-shirt salesman. I wouldn't be surprised if he is re-signed regardless of his results.
 
#10
#10
Jr. has talent but the desire to win isn't there. It seems he cares more about the money and his race team. You could stick Knaus in there and he wouldn't make the chase.
 
#11
#11
VOLNBAMA said:
Jr. has talent but the desire to win isn't there. It seems he cares more about the money and his race team. You could stick Knaus in there and he wouldn't make the chase.
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This. Listen to his interviews. He has as much passion as I do to get up and go to school every day. He hasn't been motivated in awhile.
 
#12
#12
TennesseeFan07 said:
This. Listen to his interviews. He has as much passion as I do to get up and go to school every day. He hasn't been motivated in awhile.
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Bill Elliott rarely displayed passion, Mark Martin rarely displayed passion, and so on.

The simple reality is that Pipsqueak in the 88 car is not a top-level driver. His story is really no different from that of another guy who had a successful Busch career built largely on the financial blessings of his father who couldn't hack it at the highest level for two reasons: lack of talent and inability to avoid DNFs. Of course, I'm referring to Buckshot Jones.

For the guy driving "the company car", NASCAR changed the entire setup of the points system in order to pacify the whining done post-2004. And in the five full years since then, he's missed the Chase three times. The problem isn't the equipment or "chemistry". He can't finish in the top third of full-time drivers over the span of 26 races.
 
#13
#13
Jr doesn't care about being a good driver anymore. He used to be a really good driver early 2000's. But when you get older, you lose your ambition. It's obvious Jr doesn't have the same drive he used too.
 
#14
#14
Does Jr need to change crews and crew chiefs? Does he have the desire or has he lost something along the way. Seems like it's been over 2-3 yeara aince he won in Sprint. Believe it was Michigan.
 
#16
#16
Blow the whole team up. No reason to believe Jr. & HMS are going to become a good fit overnight when it hasn't happened in the first three years of that marriage. Jr. should look at McMurray, another guy that did next to nothing with one of the top teams, but is now winning races/much more competitive with what many would consider to be a second tier team.
 
#17
#17
tidwell said:
Blow the whole team up. No reason to believe Jr. & HMS are going to become a good fit overnight when it hasn't happened in the first three years of that marriage. Jr. should look at McMurray, another guy that did next to nothing with one of the top teams, but is now winning races/much more competitive with what many would consider to be a second tier team.
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I agree some what, the grass isn't always greener on the other side. I think once his contract ends with HMS he'll bring JRM to Cup and race his own stuff with support from RCR.
 
#18
#18
No more excuses for Jr. In the past I really could have cared less that he ran around the track every week in 30th, but since Rick decided to screw up a good thing with the #5 by sending people from a championship caliber team to a lost cause, I've got a problem with it. Switching crew chiefs again isn't going to help, just like it didn't help the last half dozen times. When someones been married five different times and can't seem to understand why things never work out, they have to realize, "Maybe its me."
 
#19
#19
Ohio Vol said:
Bill Elliott rarely displayed passion, Mark Martin rarely displayed passion, and so on.

The simple reality is that Pipsqueak in the 88 car is not a top-level driver. His story is really no different from that of another guy who had a successful Busch career built largely on the financial blessings of his father who couldn't hack it at the highest level for two reasons: lack of talent and inability to avoid DNFs. Of course, I'm referring to Buckshot Jones.

For the guy driving "the company car", NASCAR changed the entire setup of the points system in order to pacify the whining done post-2004. And in the five full years since then, he's missed the Chase three times. The problem isn't the equipment or "chemistry". He can't finish in the top third of full-time drivers over the span of 26 races.
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His story is very similar to another overhyped son of a former 7 time champion who came in, won a few races early, then flamed out.
 
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