Dale Earnhardt Jr. has everything on the line, nothing to worry about
TALLADEGA, Ala. - There's a certain freedom that comes with having nothing left to lose, with knowing that the only way you can win is a bottom-of-the-ninth grand slam, a miracle Hail Mary heave. Half-measures are worthless, good-job-good-effort is as meaningless as finishing dead last.
For Dale Earnhardt Jr., the only way through to the next round of the Chase is a victory at Talladega on Sunday. Absent a range of mitigating circumstances, no other result will allow him to carry through on what had been, until now, a dream season. And with that comes the realization that while there's plenty he can do to control his destiny, worrying and fretting are not among them.
"After how bad we’ve run the last couple of weeks and the troubles we have, to even have an opportunity is pretty neat on one side of the coin," Earnhardt said on Saturday. "I’m looking at it in a more positive manner than ‘we’re in panic mode and we’ve got to go crazy here.’ We have a shot and we know what we need to do."
Earnhardt's last couple of years have been characterized by a newfound confidence, a faith in his abilities that had been sorely lacking for most of the time he'd been at Hendrick Motorsports. On-track success begat confidence, which in turn begat more success. All the talk deriding Junior faded in waves of victory-lane confetti.
But in NASCAR's new Chase format, one bad week can torpedo a season's worth of hopes. Earnhardt has had two. That makes this year's Talladega race one of the most critical Earnhardt has ever faced in his career.
"Knowing that I have to win will be in the back of my mind for every lap throughout the race," he said. "It’ll be different. I don’t think I’ve been in that situation before; I don’t think any driver has where it’s win or nothing."
So what will he be doing to prepare himself for this unprecedented, all-important race?
"Nothing," Earnhardt said on Saturday, offering a hint of a grin. "I’ve been racing here a long time. I got it. Just have to get my suit on and get in the car. There isn’t much to do it. You get in there and do it. I just don’t need to eat any bad fish or junk food. Put good stuff in your body you can burn, and drink a lot of water to hydrate. Physically, it’s very simple to race here. When you end the race, you don’t feel any physical drain or anything like that. Mentally it’s very tough. But I don’t know if we do mental exercises or anything to prepare ourselves."
It's all down to this, then, for the driver with the sport's greatest name, its largest fanbase, and its most vocal contingent. Win or it's over. Easy enough, right? There's clarity in simplicity.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter.
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