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How is it that Mark Martin can win his first race since 2005, yet Dale Earnhardt Jr. continues to be stuck in a tunnel that seems to have no light at the end of it?
That was pretty much the story in Saturday night’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway: Martin won from the pole, lead the most laps (157, more than half of the race’s 312 circuits around the flat one-mile oval) and broke a 97-race winless streak.
Earnhardt, meanwhile, led the second-highest number of laps (63), yet was once again victimized by misfortune: a bad set of tires, followed by being punted into the wall late in the race.
End result for the driver of the No. 88 Chevy – and Martin’s teammate: a very disappointing 31st-place finish. Earnhardt has now finished 20th or worse in half of the season’s first eight races.
And while Martin jubilantly breaks his winless streak, Earnhardt’s streak of frustration now extends to just one win in his last 106 starts.
Oh yes, one more thing: Saturday night’s win helps Martin, who earlier this season was as far back as 34th in the standings, jump up from 18th to 13th in the rankings heading into next week’s race at Talladega, just nine points behind 12th-ranked and former Roush Racing teammate and prodigy Matt Kenseth.
Earnhardt, meanwhile, falls from 16th to 19th and is starting to reach a point where his chances of making the Chase for the Sprint Cup are becoming more and more questionable.
Earnhardt is now a massive 399 points behind teammate and series leader Jeff Gordon. Even guys like David Reutimann (9th), Kasey Kahne (10th), Ryan Newman (17th) and even Juan Pablo Montoya (15th) are ranked ahead of Earnhardt in the standings after the first eight races.
It’s getting to the point where a major shake-up of Earnhardt’s team, which more and more fans have been calling for as he continues to fade further down in the standings, may be closing in on the horizon, faster than we might think. What may have seemed unthinkable at the beginning of the season may now have reached a point where it’s inevitable.
Even though he’s done a great job under some very trying circumstances, will crew chief Tony Eury Jr., ultimately become the fall guy and be relieved of his duties – even though Dale Jr.’s struggles really haven’t been of Eury’s doing?
Or, might team owner Rick Hendrick give Eury a few weeks off and try someone else at the helm to see if it might change things?
Or, will Hendrick do what he’s done several times in the past when one or more of his teams have struggled: shift several personnel from one team to the team that needs the most help (in this case, Earnhardt’s)?
But with four-time Cup champ Gordon in the points lead, three-time defending Cup champ Jimmie Johnson now in second place and Martin knocking on the door of the top-12, where would Hendrick move folks from?
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