Earnhardt hopes Indy speed turns into Pocono success

While the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports team hasn’t been up to playoff standards this season, there are still several tracks were Earnhardt has excelled and could possibly pull off the upset before the post-season begins — including this weekend’s event at Pocono Raceway. Earnhardt swept both races at the Tricky Triangle in 2014.

Although cars and setups change dramatically from season to season, Earnhardt was encouraged by the speed the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports team found over the weekend at the Brickyard, even though the No. 88 Chevy fell victim to a wreck after 76 laps.

“We learned some things at Indy that gave us speed,” Earnhardt said during a Goodyear tire test at Dover International Speedway on Tuesday. “Our car was in the top 10 in all the practices. We qualified well and I thought we had speed in the race.

“I think some of the things that we think gave us that kind of speed at Indy will help us this weekend at Pocono.”

After his disappointing Indy finish — and the fans’ response, Earnhardt implored his supporters to back off of crew chief Greg Ives on Twitter.

He continued to defend Ives during his media availability at the test. Earnhardt believes Ives has been unfairly criticized during the driver's and team’s struggle to turn the season around. But he admits that comes with the territory.

“I’ve heard the chatter over the season,” Earnhardt said. “We’ve had a difficult year. There’s been rumbling in the background from fans and they love targeting the crew chief. Our struggles are no one individual’s responsibility. Being my crew chief, we have such a passionate fan base, such a large fan base, it’s a challenging position for anybody. I’ve seen that with all the guys that I’ve worked with. They’ve all had to deal with it. Making strategy. Making the right call. They really get picked apart.

“This is our last season. We’ve had some difficult results and a lot of opportunity to be frustrated and miserable. But I don’t want my season to be remembered by my crew chief, myself or my as being a miserable time. And the fans have an influence on that. They can definitely ease up a bit on Greg and realize he’s an extremely talented and in that position for a reason. He’s going to have incredible success beyond my driving career as a crew chief at HMS and I look forward to seeing that happen next season with Alex (Bowman).

Earnhardt was happy to close the door on another aspect of racing — testing. He wrapped up his final Goodyear Tire test on Tuesday with four other drivers at Dover International Speedway. Earnhardt gave tires he tested solid reviews, but he didn’t mince words when describing the experience.

Earnhardt will have a new challenge next year when he enters the booth for NBC Sports. He’s hoping emulate some of the best sportscasters that have represented NASCAR in the past. Some of Earnhardt’s favorites include Barney Hall, Ken Squire and Benny Parsons — all who remained as genuine on the air as they were off. While he has enjoyed his time in front of the camera, Earnhardt still considers himself a broadcasting neophyte.

“It felt natural when I went up there last year,” Earnhardt said. “There’s a lot to learn as far as just the mechanics of the broadcast and how everything works, how they create the show. There’s not a lot of opportunity to talk, to be honest with you between commercial breaks and all the features, and getting downstairs and to talk to pit road. There’s really not a lot of time for the analysts to do much.

“It’s not overwhelming as far as content and how much you have to produce personally when you’re in the booth. But you’ve got to be prepared and I think that’s why they hired me for is to be myself and give my point of view. But I’ve admired a lot of play-by-play guys over the years and hopefully, I can grow into good asset for NBC. I just want to make them proud for bringing me on board.”