COLUMN: Junior Needs to Win

CONCORD, N.C. - The annual NASCAR Sprint Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway offers a stage for grandiose predictions and macho chest-thumping.

The most recent pep rally in the Queen City was no different.

From NASCAR chairman Brian France to the dreamers on low-budget operations, the message centered around the revival of the gutsy racing that transformed a regional spectacle into a glitzy phenomenon.

Most of the speeches seemed straight out of a Dale Carnegie Guide To Public Speaking handbook.

To summarize from the well-rehearsed script, the Chase for the 2010 Sprint Cup championship will be an eye-popping battle down to the final lap. Every driver, no matter how heavily the odds are stacked in favor of the mega-teams, is a contender.

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One interview from the week stands out.

Wednesday’s session with Dale Earnhardt Jr. was real and almost painfully raw, yet it offered fascinating insight into the mindset of the sport’s most popular driver.

While his teammates at Hendrick Motorsports were dishing out warmed-over sound bites, Earnhardt bared his soul on a wide range of topics.

Many fans have grown weary of the constant glare on Earnhardt, and his results over the past three years are hardly worthy of superstar status.

The son of the seven-time NASCAR champion has heard the critics who have called him overrated and disappointing. Earnhardt was hit with the same questions repeatedly Wednesday. He knew what was coming and never ducked.

“I hate talking about last year,” said Earnhardt, who finished a career-worst 25th in points in 2009. “It was miserable. I have to own up to all that stuff.”

What Earnhardt really wanted to talk about was computers. He even admitted that he stayed up until 2 a.m. Wednesday morning playing the popular video game, “Call of Duty.”

That might have explained Earnhardt’s rather subdued personality and scruffy beard during Wednesday’s elaborate gathering attended by nearly 200 media members. Earnhardt is also a devotee of simulated racing games.

“I’m there every day,” said Earnhardt, referring this computer room. “Every damn day I go home, and I’m on the damn thing. I just take a break every 30 minutes and play some “Call of Duty” and go shoot some people, then it’s back to racing.”

Just few a feet away, Hendrick mentor Mark Martin was revealing details of his famed conditioning routine, Jimmie Johnson was discussing the challenge of defending his Sprint Cup championship and Jeff Gordon was lamenting the woes of parenthood.

Though he never asked for the role, Earnhardt is the key to NASCAR’s resurgence. At some tracks, it appears that 80 percent of the fans are dressed in Earnhardt colors.

Rule changes and earlier starting times for races are fine, but NASCAR needs Earnhardt to win. Bottom line.

The pressure is immense. And yet, the 35-year-old Earnhardt has never really changed from the humble military school kid who grew up running his own Late Model car at obscure short tracks or partying with his friends.

And no matter how blinding the spotlight gets, it’s seems clear that Earnhardt isn’t about to change for any marketing whiz, network executive or team owner.

“I feel completely, utterly, normal,” Earnhardt said. “I do everything everybody else does. The things that I’m interested in are the same things that guys my age are interested in.”

As for Johnson, he welcomes the high expectations that accompany his historic run to four-straight Sprint Cup titles.

“I’m excited. It’s there,” Johnson said. “There’s a desire inside of me to do the best I can week in and week out.”

“We’ve been a motivational tool for a lot of teams over the offseason the last few years. Only time will tell how it really plays out, but I’ve always been in the other position where I looked up to the guy or team. It’s pretty damn cool to be that person right now, so I’m going to enjoy it.”

It’s curious to note that Johnson has never come close to realizing the icon status worthy of a NASCAR champion and Associated Press Athlete of the Year. Johnson’s detractors call him “too vanilla.”

Meanwhile, Earnhardt remains as popular as ever despite his struggles. Maybe Earnhardt is just “too real.”