Is Dale Earnhardt Jr Still the Face of NASCAR?

by Charlie Turner

Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. The best NASCAR and IndyCar news and opinion, exclusive pictures and video. I'm Charlie Turner. Follow me on Twitter @onpitrow

December 11, 2009 10:36 pm CST No Comments

Dale Earnhardt Jr won NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver award for the seventh straight year in 2009. Junior has been the face of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series.

But is he still?

Or should he be?

Earnhardt Jr’s best season was 2004 when he won six Cup races and had 16 top fives and 21 top tens while winning his second Most Popular Driver title.

But in the the five seasons since, he has just three wins, 36 top fives and 63 top tens. A popular theory is that NASCAR gets a fever when Junior gets a chill.

From 2005 through today, Jimmie Johnson has won 33 times in Cup and finished top five 77 times. Four straight championships too. But J J is most definitely not NASCAR’s most popular. But shouldn’t he be the face of the sport?

Or should Tony Stewart - newly minted owner driver - be the man? 18 wins and 69 top fives and he was the last guy not named Johnson to win a Cup title. Tony’s plenty popular. But is he the face of NASCAR?

Jeff Gordon? Kyle Busch or Mark Martin?

Nah. Dale Earnhardt Jr is still the man for the fans. At least for enough of them. At least for now.

NASCAR Photo credit: Beth Anne Heisler - OnPitRow.com

Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR, NASCAR & the Media, Tony Stewart, jimmie johnson

Tagged with: NASCAR's Most Popular Driver

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

Comments

Got something to say?

Did you know you can log in with your Thunder Lounge account, and have your personal avatar and site link available when you comment at On Pit Row?

Don't have an account yet? Sign-up for free.