Dale Earnhardt Jr 2015 Review
By Richard Tix
Season Grade: B+
Season Preview: "After last season Jr Nation is going to be expecting a run at the title again. They got new hope in his chance to finally win a Cup Championship and they wont let the loss of Letarte be an excuse. The best news for this team would be an early season win at Daytona again, but if they don't get that I can see the #88 winning less races than 2014. When they won early it gave them a lot of freedom that other teams didn't have. I still see 1-2 wins, 8-10 top 5's, and 18-20 top 10's. All those stats are down from 2014, yet he could finish higher than 8th in 2015 because of a better Chase performance."
Season Review: Dale Earnhardt Jr and the #88 team took the CC switch in stride and didn't miss a beat in 2015. Actually, they did opposite of what I thought and topped my wins, top 10's, and top 10's, but finished lower in the Chase. But, that is how the Chase works now. Sometimes you have a more consistent season and you finish lower.
What ifs come into play here because "if" Junior would have just advanced from a win at Talladega he would have done well enough to get to Miami as a final four contender. No, he wouldn't have won but it would have been an exciting moment for Jr Nation.
2015's successful season gives him back to back top performances after 2 wins, 16 top 5's (tied a career best), and 22 top 10's (tied a career best). 2014/2015 was his best back to back season's since an almost identical 2003/2004 (except he won one more race). All of that said, it was obviously a great year overall for the 88.
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