FanHouse DaleEarnhardtJr

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s performance -- or lack thereof -- in 2009 has become a contentious debate, last weekend's Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway lacked the pizazz we're used to at Bristol and a few drivers have struggled to put forth results that'll leave you scratching your head.

What, you ask yourself, does FanHouse's Holly Cain and Geoffrey Miller have to say on these issues?

Find out as FH's Wheel2Wheel takes a look at NASCAR's current stories and issues. Read on to see what we've got to say, and when you're done, tell us exactly how we're wrong. It'll be more fun than sneaking your family sedan on to Daytona's high banks for a late night joyride.

Well, almost.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- It wasn't a full race, but for the driver from Cambridge, Wisc., it's still the Daytona 500.

Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, won the rain-shortened 51st running of the Daytona 500 Sunday night after NASCAR stopped the event 48 laps from the scheduled distance.

Welcome to the newest regular feature that FanHouse is proud to present: Wheel2Wheel. Throughout the season, motorsports writers Holly Cain and Geoffrey Miller will take a topic and toss in their thoughts on the issue.

This week, they'll debate two of NASCAR's biggest names -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart -- and discuss who they think carries the top standing in in four areas. Agree? Disagree? Join in below!

Q: Who will win first in 2009, Tony Stewart or Dale Earnhardt Jr.?

Geoffrey Miller: I'd say, barring a crapshoot win for Stewart in a restrictor plate race, this question is easily answered: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Kevin Harvick has found the key to winning the biggest races at Daytona International Speedway: lead as few laps as possible. Harvick, who won the 2007 Daytona 500 after leading just four laps, led just one Saturday night en route to winning his first Bud Shootout.

His improbable win was just the tip of the iceberg on a wild, full moon Florida night as 28 of NASCAR's stars knocked the dust of the steering wheel in the season-opening exhibition.

Friday afternoon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. graced the web pages of Sports Illustrated after writer Bruce Martin hung around with the driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet for a day's-worth of commercial work recently.

The piece was mostly centered around Earnhardt Jr.'s status as a commercial icon and previewed an ad for sponsor GoDaddy.com that will feature fellow Hendrick/JR Motorsports driver Brad Keselowski, but as we've come to expect from Earnhardt Jr., the driver didn't hold back when asked about some comments made during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Media tour just a few weeks back.

Those comments centered around Speedway Motorsports, Inc., chairman Bruton Smith claiming that the drivers need to do a little more to help sell tickets in the struggling climate that faces the 2009 season.

Here's what everyone will be talking about as the NASCAR haulers roll into Daytona International Speedway next month for the start of one the most unpredictable seasons in recent memory.

No sport is more intrinsically affected by the economic slowdown than auto racing and, specifically, NASCAR. Corporate America is more cautious with the sponsorship money it had been throwing NASCAR's way for years and the average fan has to really consider if he and his family can afford a race weekend.

Warning: Objects in this post may be the only way to successfully live through the NASCAR off-season. For best results, read rearview mirror early and often.

Driver: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Team: No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
'08 Final Standing: 12th (-557)
Best Race: Michigan (1st-place)
Worst Race: Homestead (41st-place)

Season in a box: Put the combination of NASCAR's most popular driver with one its winningest teams in the past decade and the expectations are bound to be high, and for Dale Earnhardt Jr., those expectations likely exceeded any type of success outside of winning every race and the championship in 2008.

With 43 cars on track, it's not too often that TV cameras catch a wreck live for the audience at home, but June's Sprint Cup race at Dover International Speedway was a little different.

FOX Sports was riding along with Elliott Sadler in his No. 19 Dodge on the in-car camera when the car suddenly broke loose and slapped the outside Turn 2 wall. What we saw next was also atypical of crashes at Dover.

Instead of following the general rule that Dover is a "self-cleaning" race track that forces crashed cars to the bottom of the race track because of the banked corners and straightaways, Sadler's car opted to slide precariously into the middle of the track and into what is best described as a blind spot for race cars traveling at speed.

And so, as the video below shows, Tony Stewart slammed into Sadler, followed by Denny Hamlin, Scott Riggs, Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Bobby Labonte to leave the track virtually blocked and multiple pre-race favorites done for the day after just 19 laps of the 400-lap race.

With NASCAR's awards banquet on Friday, Dec. 5 (stop by for the live blog!), here's a look at 10 from '08 -- ten of the NASCAR season's best moments.

Thanks to rain, it took the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series well over 24 hours to finish the Auto Club 500 at the newly-named Auto Club Speedway (enough Auto Club for one sitting? I think so) back in February.

And of course, like only NASCAR could, the way it handled the rain situation got some fans more than fired up.

NASCAR attempted to get the race going for its Sunday start as planned, but only 21 laps went by before a wreck that somehow saw Casey Mears get flipped over thanks to the nose of a slowing Sam Hornish Jr. It was an interesting wreck (see the photo to the right and the video later in the post) after flames shot from Hornish's No. 77 while Mears was basically trapped in his No. 5.

Mears and Hornish were able to get out without injury.

The wreck included Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Reed Sorenson, and a previous wreck saw Denny Hamlin smack the wall. After the lap 21 incident, the red flag came out for water seeping from the track and later more rain, leaving Dale Earnhardt Jr. slightly ticked at NASCAR's attempt to get the race underway.

With NASCAR's awards banquet on Friday, Dec. 5 (stop by for the live blog!), here's a look at 10 from '08 -- ten of the NASCAR season's best moments.

"Oooohhh he turned 'em! Oooohh he turned 'em! No! No! No! No!" was the call Darrell Waltrip made in the FOX Sports booth as he watched young Kyle Busch -- who already wasn't the most well-liked driver in NASCAR fan circles -- spin fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. back in May at Richmond International Raceway.

The wreck, with three laps to go in 400-lap race, sent Earnhardt Jr.'s No. 88 Chevrolet spinning sideways and into the turn 3 wall after Kyle Busch bumped the left side of the No. 88. Unfortunately for Busch, he wasn't able to keep the lead he temporarily gained with the incident after Clint Bowyer snuck past on the low side.



The memories of that incident wouldn't be forgotten, however, by Mr. Earnhardt Jr.