Junior's Take on Richmond: Ouch!

  

  
So, is that really a smile, or is Junior getting ready to take a bite out of crime (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   DARLINGTON, S.C.
   You think it's fun being Dale Earnhardt Jr.?
   All the adoration.
   All the money.
   All the girls.
   All the parties.
   Well, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was having no fun being Dale Earnhardt Jr. here Friday.
   Just a few days after his worst performance of the year, at Richmond, one of his best tracks, Earnhardt was in a curt, almost surly mood.
   Edgy?
   "You go sit in that car. It's not fun," Earnhardt snipped, between practice runs for Saturday's Southern 500 (7:20 p.m. EDT start, and the race will probably run at least four hours).
     This place is just up the road from Myrtle Beach, where a much younger Dale Jr. earned his NASCAR spurs.
     And for a moment Friday here Earnhardt seemed nostalgic: "When you're doing that kind of stuff, you don't realize how good you've got it, and how lucky you are.
     "There was a lot of pressure and a lot of worry…just like there is today. You don't understand what opportunity you have at that age
     "I did poorly in trying to enjoy it. Every week if we didn't run in the top-three, it was a failure, just like it is up here."
    And, uh, what did go so wrong at Richmond?
   "Y'all saw what happened. Why do I got to comment on it?" Earnhardt retorted. "It don't help nothing to talk about it. Not for me.
    "My team has had enough crap from everybody else. I don't need to weigh in on it.
    "Y'all saw what happened, and y'all can say what you want to say.
     "We're working on it and we're trying to fix it."
    An errant pit stop adjustment, apparently.
   "I'm pretty sure that guy will concentrate harder and try not to make that mistake this time," Earnhardt said. "We had three screw-jacks (holes for adjusting) in the car -- one in the track-bar adjustment and one in each screw-jack in the right rear. I don't think anybody would have been able to make all them adjustments correctly under the heat of the fire.
    "I don't have any hard feelings at all. If the car is not so far off, we don't have to make that many adjustments under one stop."
   Jeff Gordon, an Earnhardt teammate, says Earnhardt's current situation "is challenging" for Gordon himself to try to stay out of.
   "It's hard to get away from it completely, because you're constantly being asked about it and you're reading about it," Gordon said.
   "Always during those situations, I've tried to stay away from watching too much media or looking at too much media, just so you can focus on your job…because that's all it really comes down to.
    "They can say all that they want, but if you go out there and perform, that's what changes the story.
    "If it's a good story, they're going to continue to write about it and talk about it. You can't blame the media for that.
    "So you've got to change the story from your end -- and the only way you can do that is to go out there and perform.
    "I've always felt for Junior, and for Tony Eury Jr. too…. because whether they're at Hendrick or not at Hendrick, they've got a tremendous amount of pressure on them, more-so than the average guy, just because of the fan base and media attention that comes along with Junior.
    "At the same time, you get yourself in that position, you've got to have thick skin.
    "You've got to be able to get through these tough times."