Dale Jr Builds Confidence Slowly, But Surely

Dale Jr has had a bunch of recent good runs in NASCAR lately. And it seems that ratings have also been up lately. But that may or may not have anything to do with it. That's your opinion. But one thing is for sure. Little E is improving, and so is his confidence.

It all started, two races ago. It was at Michigan. A track where his last win was. He was with a new crew chief this time, with a newer style car. He did great. Compared to how he was recently doing, it certainly was special. Jr had an okay car at the beginning, but Lance McGrew and the 88 team made great improvements and charged up to third. It was amazing. Many thought it was a fluke, but the next race at Bristol, proved all the critics wrong.

So Bristol came, which was another one of the race tracks that Jr has visited in victory lane. He made improvements all night, boosting him up in the top 5, but then finshed 9th. The first consecutive set of top 10 finishes of the 2009 season.

And this weekend, Jr is pulling off double duty. Racing in both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series at Atlanta, which is another track Jr has won on before. For the Nationwide race, Jr qualified on the pole. That's right, first position. He was going to start in first, something that has not been seen in both series in a while. He backed it up in the Nationwide race too. He had a third place car the whole race, but not as good as the 33 car, a car that lapped every car but the top 5. So the only way to win it was from strategy. So Jr saved fuel. He saved about 5 laps. And he was successful. The problem was that he was caught, by the fast 33 car who had fresh tires. Jr finshed third, where he pretty much ran all day.

So my point? My point is that Dale Earnhardt Jr is back. Or at least, he is getting closer. He is confident. And that is growing every day. Every interview he has, he seems more sure of himself. And with all that has happend in the last few years of his career, that is a good sign. We may be seeing the most popular driver in victory lane very soon.