“Well s–t, how are those guys making so much time?” Dale Earnhardt Jr scratched his head in utter confusion last year at Florence Motor Speedway. As the veteran racer took the wheel of his Late Model car at the 0.4-mile layout again, the same thought struck him. That revealed a racing weakness that has plagued 26-time Cup winner Dale Jr during his NASCAR career as well.

Watching younger Late Model racers clinch higher speeds while Dale Jr lags behind. That is the story the veteran racer relived on his recent excursion to Florence. As he lamented about his outing, his better half also chimed in with valuable observations.

Dale Earnhardt Jr started low yet again

The popular driver keeps coming back to one of his most beloved Late Model tracks. Yet on his sixth showing at Florence, he repeated his tradition of qualifying lower than his competitors. Driving the No. 3 Sun Drop Chevrolet, Earnhardt Jr. qualified 22 for the 125-lap event, putting him deep in the field for the start. Yet he saved his tires, rode through the pack, and chased to the front with about 60 laps remaining. Despite the solid effort, he declared: “I’m a terrible qualifier. I’ve no idea why, I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr raced three-wide with a stellar crowd containing three-time series champion Bobby McCarty and recent series winner Treyten Lapcevich. He passed them both to clinch a top-10 result. Yet Dale Earnhardt Jr lamented about his qualifying effort. “We had enough enough speed I think, to compete in the top-five. And I just got to qualify better. When I qualify in the back, you’re not gonna drive from the back of the field to the front anymore. The field’s too strong – I have to qualify in the top 15 to give us a shot at it.” 

Dale Earnhardt Jr’s better half Amy also quipped how qualifying days haunted the Earnhardt household during Cup Series races. “We hated qualifying day back then too, we would have some really really rough Friday evenings after qualifying. He hated it, so that hasn’t changed.” This time, Amy thought Dale Jr had a chance. “It was fun watching the last 20 laps because you could see an obvious hammer down. And it was over before I realized it was the last lap. I was like, ‘Wait a second. He just got going. We need a couple more.’ Like if we had seven more laps, I think he would have at least gotten up to the top three.”

The No. 3 Late Model stock car witnessed a similar fate last year too – although Dale Earnhardt Jr finished better.

Qualifying always yields maximum effort

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Compared to Dale Earnhardt Jr’s 22nd-place sadness, last year was worse. The Bass Pro Shops Late Model Stock car qualified 26th in a 41-car race field. But his progress was methodical – Dale Jr muscled his way to 10th by the time the race break arrived on Lap 100. While the entire field was on fresher tires, he did his best to stretch his tires for about 100 laps. Then he made the final charge with 50 laps or so to go and finished 8th. Dale Jr’s aggression, especially during restarts, prompted Brendan Queen to approach him and compliment him.

Dale Jr talked about the pressure to perform: “I know it sounds silly. but I spent my whole life trying to be as good as I possibly could. Being so competitive you almost make yourself miserable. Every dang time you ran a lap, you wanted to know how it measured up against the field. You do that your whole life, and when you get out of that, you’re so relieved to get out from under that pressure. You put pressure on yourself to live up to this expectation — especially as a Cup driver.”  Yet he lamented about his qualifying effort as he did last year. “You go out there and run a lap, and you’re like, ‘Well s-, how are those guys making so much time? I’ve got basically the same car as [JR Motorsports Late Model driver] Carson [Kvapil], and he ran faster.’”

So the qualifying story has not changed this year as well. But neither has Dale Earnhardt Jr’s solid top-ten effort.