It's been stated many times. Dale Earnhardt Jr is the most popular driver.  He also makes a lot of money in endorsements and commercials.  He's a team owner, and his driver for 2009, Brad Keselowski, is having an incredible season.  He's also sitting in the mid-twenties in the points standings (22 to 24 the past few weeks).

He is also, it seems, one of the most hated drivers in NASCAR.  But why?

I've read a lot of passionate comments here and on other sites, some claiming he is the best driver ever (he isn't) and others saying he can't drive worth a sh*t (also not true).

Some acknowledge that he is their favorite driver only because Dale Sr was, while others are too young to have known much about Dale Sr and are fans of Dale Jr as new NASCAR fans.

One thing is for certain, he can go anywhere and do almost anything he wants.  Face it, if Dale Jr walked into your local neighborhood restaurant, the owners would fall all over themselves to give him dinner.  If he walked into your local pub, the bartender would be quick to offer him a cold Bud, on the house.

The one thing he can't seem to do, and hasn't been able to do for a while, is win a race.

One other thing he can't do, is comment on anything.  No matter what he says, someone is posting an opinion on what he really means.  If he expresses frustration with his season and takes the blame, it's written up as "Dale Jr second guessing his own abilities to drive".  If he says he and Crew Chief, Lance McGrew are working on communication and making sure they understand what the other is saying for car changes, it's interpreted as "Dale Earnhardt Jr whining about Lance's car set-ups".   Most recently, he commented that the most success he had as a driver so far was with "Pops" Eury on the pit box, someone writes "Dale Earnhardt Jr needs a Dictator".

And that's just the reporters.  Then you have the fans who think they can solve his every problem.  Just go to any blog written about Jr's winless situation and there will be a dozen comments from fans who think they know exactly what he needs to do, and another dozen from those who think he needs to just retire and go away somewhere. 

So what is it about Dale Jr that encourages this behavior? 

Oddly, I don't see these kind of articles about Jeff Gordon, or Carl Edwards or Tony Stewart.  No one is dramatizing the fact that Jeff hasn't had the success he once had, and no one is claiming to have all the answers.  Kevin Harvick hasn't had a wonderful season and Richard Childress is making adjustments everywhere to try to bring back the success to all his teams.  Are the blogs full of dramatizations? No...... well except for a couple yours truly wrote, there isn't much said at all.  And I don't see people hating Kevin and Jeff Burton and Carl Edwards because they still have all their commercials running, and they are still making lots of money, but they aren't having the success.

Ford as a whole hasn't had the kind of year we thought they would, with Matt Kenseth winning the first two races of the year.  Do we hate Matt because he didn't make the Chase? Well, no.  Do we have all the answers on what he needs to do to succeed? No to that as well.

And the interesting thing is, if you ask Dale Jr if he could trade a Most Popular Driver trophy for a win at a race track, my bet is he would trade you in a second.  In fact, ithink he's honestly getting to the point, with all the criicism, all the naysaying, all the doubts, that he would do almost anything to get that win.  He has been trying.  He was making huge moves forward, racing at the front of the pack.  Then he had problems in the pits, and car failures, but again, somehow, these problems are of his own making, in the minds of the experts and the haters.  He should have been able to recover from the tire changer missing a lug nut.  He should have been able to recover from being caught in the pits when the caution flew.  After all, he's super human isn't he?

No, he's not.

Dale Jr is a NASCAR driver.  He is trying to drive a car to the best of his ability and give his crew chief the information he needs to make adjustments to the car so it will drive better for him on the track.  He isn't an engineer and he doesn't have the handle on what to do with the COT.   Until he knows what he needs in the car, he can't communicate it properly.

I heard an "expert" on SIRIUS say the other day that Dale Jr needs to go to Nepal and meditate.  

I certainly don't know what the answer is.  I'm a fan, but I'm not an expert, either in the car, or in what it is like to have Dale Jr's life.

I do know that he does't deserve anyone's hatred.  if you think he's an overrated driver, fine, I understand that, but don't hate him....just because he's Dale Earnhardt  Jr.