Junior is Cool   August 20, 2007 T. Jay Maddox - SCR Guest Commentary   The Dale Earnhardt Junior Nation is by many accounts in turmoil. What team will he move to, the one question that has been answered? Who will be his sponsor? What number will he have? Who will be his crew chief?  The answers to these questions are slowly making their way to the surface.   I am a Junior fan. He inherited me from his father, but I liked the kid from the beginning.  He seemed authentic, he seemed real and he seemed cool.  He said what he wanted to say in the only way he knew to say it. He didn't succumb to public relations coaches who would have him speak like Jimmy Johnson.  He wore jeans and his hat backwards. He had a cool sponsor, and that slanted No. 8 on his car, much like the slanted No. 3 on his Daddy's car.

He has a cool radio show with his buddies who talk about whatever they want to talk about. He even has a cool crew.  What front tire changer is cooler than DJ Copp? Earnhardt can go anywhere he wants to, get any girl he wants, and say almost anything he wants, although sometimes with fines attached, and even that is cool.   The one thing he hasn't had enough of is winning, which I'm guessing is the one thing he'd like more than anything else he could list.  And isn't that what all Junior fans want for themselves and want for him.  Is there anything better than being a Junior fan and seeing that red No. 8 take the lead?  Doesn't it do your heart good to think this might be the day you see Junior win.  There haven't been that many wins.  I've been to several races and I've never seen one.  Isn't winning the ultimate cool?  That's all he wants.  Is he good enough?  I say absolutely.  He and maybe 15 to 20 other guys who get the perfect set-up can win on any given weekend.   So what more could he do to give him the best opportunity to win than to move to Hendrick Motorsports (HMS).  I can't root for Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson and part of the reason may lie in the fact that they have won races that Junior could have won if he'd been in their equipment.   So do I admire the cars they drive… absolutely.  Could Junior win in those cars? No doubt! So why wouldn't he move to a team that might give him a better opportunity to win. And why, as the Junior Nation, wouldn't we support him doing the only thing that is missing from his cool resume, winning more races and possibly a championship. After all they are the only things separating him from the ultimate in cool.

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So he's not going to be in the No. 8 next year.  Do I like it? No.  I own a fair amount of red No. 8 equipment from hats to t-shirts, to coolers and they are relics now.  But they have been relics for weeks now as word came out about the changes.  With the apparent move from his current sponsor to a product more universally accepted, I knew my wardrobe would have to change.  Why should he pay for a number he made famous?  Just like he shouldn't have paid through the nose for a business his Daddy started for him and his siblings. Paying for something you should get for free is not cool.   So let the No. 8 go.  A new broom sweeps clean. Embrace his new number and his new sponsor. Junior will make it cool.  It's in his nature.  We will now have the best opportunity to see Junior do the ultimate in cool... and that's win.   Questions, Comments; Email T. Jay    The views and opinions in this article are that of the writer(s) and not necessarily that of SCR