Earnhardt Jr. and others laying the foundation for a Championshp run one race at a time

Dale Earnhardt Jr. stands on pit road before qualifying for the Daytona 500. Earnhardt will start the race on the outside of the front row via nascar-assets.americaneagle.com Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR

We move from the East coast to the west coast as NASCAR invades Fontana with both of its tops series for a weekend of racing.

I don’t think we’ll have a huge pot-hole in the track this weekend like we had at Daytona. How many of you were disappointed by the whole hole situation? I was to an extent, but as much as others.

Listen the hole was an inconvenience for sure and I would have rather watched the race instead, but look at it this way; at least the race wasn’t red flagged because a car left the track and destroyed the catch-fence while injuring either the driver or spectators or both.

Could you have imagined how long the red flag would have been at Talladega last year if Carl Edwards went airborne into the catch-fence 30 laps in instead of the last lap? I’m thinking the wait would easily have been just as long.

At least we got to see the drivers and hear their opinions about the race before the race was even over, what a rare opportunity to see what a driver’s mindset is during the race and not after.

Aside from the hole issue I thought the race was a pretty good one and NASCAR’s new rule for a Green/White/Checker finish came into play for the first race of the season. Briefly the rule states that if there is a caution within the last three laps of a race then NASCAR will give up to 3 attempts to finish the race under green flag conditions.

NASCAR had to use all three attempts to finish the race last Sunday which eventually saw Jamie McMurray (1) take home the win.

McMurray was able to wrestle the lead away from the likes of a Kevin Harvick (29), Greg Biffle (16), and Clint Bowyer (33) in the closing laps of the race. But perhaps the most amazing thing about last week’s race besides McMurray’s win was the fact that Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88) finished second. After Earnhardt Jr.’s struggle last year to finish races it was nice to see him do so well and it should be noted that Earnhardt had to provide some late race heroics to get to where he was when the checkered flag flew too.

Earnhardt Jr. appeared to be relaxed all weekend, he was even able to make a joke about his huge wreck in the Nationwide Series race on Saturday which saw the former Nationwide Series champ turn over and roll his car during a large wreck near the end of the race.

Earnhardt Jr. and his team certainly suffered from growing pains last year as Earnhardt Jr.’s long-time crew chief, Tony Eury Jr., was replaced about halfway through a terrible season. Under the leadership of new crew chief, Lance McGrew, Earnhardt Jr. continued to find his way and by the end of the season he and McGrew started to put together some pretty serious runs only to have them end with misfortune. If it weren’t for bad luck Earnhardt Jr. wouldn’t have had any luck at all last year so let’s hope the bad luck monkey has left Earnhardt Jr.’s back and he has the kind of season everyone, including himself, is expecting to have.

I know that Fontana is but one race, but a Championship run is built one race at a time so let's see if Earnhardt and his team are laying the foundation for a run at the Championship this year or not.