Daily NASCAR

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had the 10th fastest car during Friday’s practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but managed to secure the pole later in the day for today’s Kobalt Tools 500. (Photo: Getty Image)

HAMPTON, Ga. - How much of NASCAR’s slump is directly attributable to Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s?

It would be pretty unfair to saddle Earnhardt - who is, after all, doing his best - with blame. It would also be unfair for NASCAR to intervene in his behalf. Should NASCAR be so inclined, it would be hard to do since there are so many eyes watching closely.

As NASCAR frets about attendance and ratings that have peaked and drifted downward in recent years - not to mention profits, stock price and budgets - it has to be more than coincidence that the slump coincides with hard times in Junior Nation.

From 2000 through 2004, Earnhardt won 15 races. In the five seasons since, he’s won three. In the past three, he’s won one.

It was a shock to the Nation’s system that Earnhardt jumped to the Sprint Cup Series’ best team, Hendrick Motorsports, in 2008. Many of Earnhardt’s fans had previously cultivated a certain enmity toward the Team of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. Dutifully, they set their differences aside. They accepted their hero’s decision to move his rear to the best seat in NASCAR.

And … nothing much happened, which, understandably, was a major bummer.

Many fans cite a growing, general indifference. Some happen to be wearing Earnhardt Jr. gear as they discuss it. They gripe about the racing not being as good, about the cars all looking alike … in fact, "alike" is a broadly used term of derision. Many NASCAR fans - or, to cite oft-used words, "former NASCAR fans" - think the cars are too much alike, the tracks too much alike and the drivers too much alike.

But what many of them have against, say, Kyle Busch - who isn’t "just alike" with anyone else in history - is that he isn’t Dale Earnhardt Jr.

This isn’t to say that all the other complaints don’t have validity. It’s to say that they might not be as apparent, or seem quite so important, if the preeminent driver in terms of popularity weren’t struggling.

It’s entirely possible that some eyes that might not be watching otherwise - particularly in the comfort of their living rooms - will be watching today, in large part because Dale Earnhardt Jr. is starting on the pole.

Inquiring minds want to see if he can win again, and to borrow from the lexicon of military commanders, the situation on the ground is starting to look promising again.

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Relax, Ryan. You don’t have to push that red button just yet. (Photo: Getty Images)

HAMPTON, Ga. - Remain calm. All is well.

That’s the gospel being preached by those for whom the first three Sprint Cup races have not gone so well. Their words are strung together by lots of "ifs," "ands" and "buts."

They’re right, of course. The Kobalt Tools 500, at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, is only the season’s four Sprint Cup race. A year ago at this point, Bobby Labonte was 10th in points.

Here’s what gets lost by those who prematurely panic. From now through the season’s 26th race, the point system governing the strategy in Cup isn’t one designed to be in first place. First place doesn’t matter until the Chase. The regular season is about being 12th because the top 12 make the Chase.

So, in other words, the standings list Ryan Newman as being in 32nd place, 281 points behind leader Kevin Harvick. That’s a lot, even now. Kyle Busch is in 12th place. Newman’s only 150 points behind him.

"I think it’s real early to be talking about a comeback," said Newman.

Jeff Gordon is two points out of 12th. Jamie McMurray trails Busch by 13. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is 18 shy of the top 12.

Oh, my gosh. That means that, over the next 23 races, Jeff Gordon won’t make the Chase unless he can keep up a pace of gaining .087 of a point in each and every race. OK, that’s a joke, but for 32nd place Ryan Newman, the math says he can make the Chase if he gains an average of 6.6 points on 12th place, whomever happens to occupy it at any given time.

They hand out five points for leading one lap under caution.

Drivers don’t like to get off to a slow start. Their fans don’t like to see it.

However … a year ago at this point, Newman, who is now 32nd, was 33rd. He made the Chase.

"We rebounded pretty quickly last year," he recalled. "I don’t know when we were first in the top 12 after being 33rd three races in. (He reached the top 12 after the 10th race). I know there’s plenty of potential, and there’s a lot of the season left.

"The law of averages works out for everybody except Jimmie Johnson."

The winner of four straight championships is apparently above the law.

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A year after replacing Tony Stewart in the No. 20 car for Gibbs Racing, Joey Logano has made a successful transition to Sprint Cup racing with a win at New Hampshire last season. Now, at 19, many are looking for Logano to improve in the points standings as well. (Photo: John Clark/NASCAR This Week)

Season No. 2 could be a breakout year for Joey Logano, who won’t turn 20 until May 24. The 2009 Raybestos Rookie of the Year has finished fifth and sixth in the past two races.

Don’t look now, but Logano, a Middletown, Conn., native, is eighth in the Sprint Cup point standings, ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch (12th) and Denny Hamlin (22nd).

"I feel more excited to come to the race tracks is what it comes down to," said Logano. "Last year it was, ‘oh, boy, California, we stunk there last time.’ I don’t know if I want to go there. Now, you look at these places, and you’re excited to go back to the track because you think you’re going to have a good race car.

"I’m more pumped up about coming to the race track. I think that’s the biggest deal, me knowing what I want. It’s the biggest (learning) curve I’ve ever taken …"

Logano was still in grade school when Mark Martin began telling whoever would listen that the kid was going to be a star. One hears such stories quite often in NASCAR, but most fall short of such heady forecasts. Logano, so far, has passed every test on his way to the top.

Logano’s one Sprint Cup victory - New Hampshire Motor Speedway, June 26, 2009 - was something of an anomaly, greatly aided by a timely rain shower that cut the race short. He wound up finishing 20th in the point standings, with the victory, three top-five finishes and seven top 10s.

It’s obvious: Logano is starting to "get it."

"It’s a gradual deal," he said. "It’s not like a light switch. I remember last year at this point. Kyle (Busch) and Denny (Hamlin) were telling me something, or Zippy (crew chief Greg Zipadelli) was telling me something, and I couldn’t make sense of it in my mind.

As I kept going with time, and kept thinking about what they said to me when I was on the race track, I’d think about it and then, eventually, I made sense of it."

Early results this year have raised the bar on expectations.

"I think it’s cool," said Logano. "I’m excited. Eighth in points … and last year I would have been happy with 20th in points at this point in the season.

"I wished they’d start the Chase now, but we have a long way to go."

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It make take the intervention of a rmadman to stop Jimmie Johnson from another championship run.

I’m beginning to think no rational man is going to deprive Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus of a fifth straight Sprint Cup championship.

Johnson was 35th in the Daytona 500, which was sort of like one of those horse races called "handicaps" because the favored horse has to carry extra weight. Johnson’s won the two races since, the most recent being the Shelby American at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

I think it’s going to take the intervention of someone who has flipped his lid.

Maybe a super-rich Arab sheik will offer Rick Hendrick, say, $1,000,000 for his team, and he’ll immediately decree that Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and everyone else have to spend at least two days a week riding camels and moaning otherworldly chants. (Martin, of course, would give it his best.)

Or maybe it’ll be another driver who’ll just … snap. He hears voices in the car - Wreck Jimmie Johnson! Wreck Jimmie Johnson! - and yet tells no one. Given the events of Sunday, that driver could be Jeff Gordon, who created one monster already when he recommended Hendrick hire Johnson.

Lunacy is a distinct possibility, though there’s little evidence so far to suggest Johnson has led his pursuers to anything but distraction.

Waiting for the Gold Horseshoe to turn to tin has gotten awfully old. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch is probably wondering if Kurt will trade him Steve Addington back for Dave Rogers and a fabricator to be named later. Kevin Harvick, second again, may hitch a ride to Tibet on Richard Childress’s next hunting trip, just to look for a stray Maharishi.

Jeff Burton is keeping his cool, so that eliminates him.

The strain of being such a good NASCAR citizen has got to be getting to Tony Stewart, so he’s got a shot. Brian Vickers is starting to stress out over being outrun by Scott Speed. Deep down, Carl Edwards is wishing that baby would pipe down and let him sleep.

Earnhardt Jr. is getting the uneasy feeling that everyone else is just as miserable as he.

The season’s only three races old, and already Johnson’s driving his opponents crazy. So there’s hope.

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photos: John Clark/NASCAR This Week

Logano dominated the Stater Brothers 300 until contact between his Toyota and Biffle’s Ford relegated Logano to a fifth-place finish. "The ‘27′ (Biffle) decided to hit us again. I don’t know what his deal is with me, but for some reason, in California, he feels like putting me in the fence or hitting me towards the end. I know we were racing hard there at the end, but… I don’t know. I think he could have done it a little cleaner than that."

My take: What consolation is there for Logano? Well, Biffle didn’t win. He had to settle for second. Kyle Busch won.

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