[media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”298″]
[/media-credit]Ask any NASCAR fan which two names are brought up most. They’re answer to you would be Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Danica Patrick. Earnhardt Jr. and Patrick are two of the most popular drivers in the sport, but at the same time, they’re two of the most hated as well. I realize hates a strong word, but I’ve seen some pretty nasty and mean comments about them. So why are they liked so much? And at the same time, why are they hated so much? Let’s find out.
Let’s start out with Earnhardt. As all of you know, his father had his life taken from him in the 2001 Daytona 500. Earnhardt Sr’s fans pretty much all transferred to his son and started cheering for him. Back then Jr was picking up tons of wins, one of his biggest was the 2004 Daytona 500. He was great at that point of his career. After a sports car crash in Sonoma, Jr. had seemed to have lost his groove. He picked up a win in Richmond of 2006 and that would end up being his last for a while. This is where all the hate comes in, fans have said he’s overrated, awful, living off of his daddy’s name, all sorts of things like that. Just because he couldn’t win a race. From 2008-2012, he only picked up 2 wins. Both coming at Michigan. So it’s fair to say that fans like him for who he is, but hate him because he doesn’t win much.
Now we move on to Patrick. She’s liked because of her reputation in the IZOD IndyCar Series and maybe all of the GoDaddy.com commercials she’s done. In IndyCar, she only had one win coming at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit in Japan. When she decided to come to NASCAR in 2010 to drive for JR Motorsports, the media blew up. She would not stop getting attention and still can’t stop getting attention. This is where the hate comes in. Fans say she’s overrated and she can’t win a race so why talk about her? This is where all the lovers come in again. Fans love Danica which is why the media talks about her so much. It’s good for ratings. If I owned ESPN I would talk about her a lot too.
In conclusion, it’s fair to say that Earnhardt Jr. and Patrick are the two most loved and the most hated drivers in NASCAR. Jr. is loved for who he is, but hated because he can’t win. Patrick is loved for who she is, but hated because she’s overrated. But whether you like them or hate them, they’re good for the sport of NASCAR.
What’s your opinion on Earnhardt Jr. and Patrick?
The girl had a little problem with depth-perception in the Busch race didn’t she? Or maybe she just thought that Sorensen should just get out of the way.
Jr. has proven himself. The girl hasn’t yet, however she won’t go hungry. Her face can be seen on almost every screen. Why would anybody buy the product being advertised when she isn’t a symbol of much?