No matter how good a driver you are, if your car is bad, you’re likely going to be bad regardless of how much talent you have. That was the message Dale Earnhardt Jr. conveyed on a recent edition of “Bussin’ with The Boys” podcast.
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Earnhardt was asked how much drivers can do to make a car better. And his response was pretty straightforward: if the car is bad right from the opening green flag, you’re going to have to wait until the first pit stop to see if your team can improve the car’s performance.
And sometimes, no matter how hard a team tries, improvement just doesn’t happen.
“The car is a really big part of the success or failure you’re going to have that day,” Earnhardt said. “As a driver, a lot of times you are at the mercy of the ability of the car and if it can do it or not.
“You’ll start the race and run a handful of corners, and you’re judging the car, is this thing any good? Is it better than the guy I’m catching? Ok, I caught him, it’s doing this right, and it’s doing that right.
“Or it’s sucking and you’re out of control and you don’t have the grip and you’re losing positions and guys are on your ass and breathing down your neck, and your confidence in the car determines if you’re spiraling down or continue to do well.
“In the very first handful of laps, the driver is judging the car and critiquing the car. And if it’s not great, we’re going to have the chance to fix it on the first pit stop. Pull down pit road, tell the crew chief everything you can, give him all the information you can so that he can determine how to improve the car.”
If all goes well, the car is fixed — or at least significantly improved — and you start seeing forward progress.
“You go back out there and (you wonder), did (the crew chief and crew) fix the son-of-a-bitch? Either it’s improved and you’re happy – hey, great job, man – or he didn’t fix it at all and it didn’t make a damn bit of difference. And now you’re doubting the ability of the team and yourself to even make the day better.
“Sometimes, it doesn’t get better and sometimes, you just don’t have a car what you want it to do and you’ve got to drive the son-of-a-gun for 3 ½ hours and it sucks.”
Earnhardt Jr: Some Days, a Car is Just So Good, ‘It’s Bad-Ass’
Then there’s the flipside — the car is outstanding from the time you start the engine on pit road and begin your parade laps.
“Some days you start with a bad car and make it better and have a great day, and you’re proud of that and you’re proud of your guys,” Earnhardt stated. “Some days you start the race and it’s bad ass and it’s awesome all day.”
And that’s where Junior goes back to his initial argument: no matter how good a driver is behind the wheel, he or she can only do so much. The major key to good or bad performance of a race car comes primarily from what the crew chief and pit crew do to it.
“You’re always reliant on this car to do things… You can be the best race car driver, the smartest guy, know everything you need to know, and if the car sucks, you can’t overcome that, you can’t will the car to do what you want it to do,” Earnhardt concluded.
