Jr's not doing that bad
Dale Earnhardt Jr. might not be that bad off
Dale Earnhardt Jr.' team has made mistakes and has had some bad luck, but NASCAR's loop data suggest the No. 88 car is running better than it's finishing.
Earnhardt is 24th in the standings after four races, but he's 15th in average running position and driver rating and, perhaps most interestingly, third in a statistic called "fastest late in a run." That ranks drivers based on their lap speeds in the last 25 percent of laps run since a pit stop. That means the No. 88 car has been pretty solid on long runs, which is something every team tries to shoot for.
Thanks to That's Racin'