Dale Earnhardt Jr Over-Rated?

I don't want all of Junior Nation attacking me, I don't hate Jr, he's a cool driver and I'd meet him in a heart beat but in my eyes the guy is totally over rated. Yes, he would have had his own fan base no matter what happened with his father but most of his fan base and Junior Nation came from the fact that he's an Earnhardt. It's all about the last name if you ask me, if his last name was Smith or something of that nature than I doubt he'd be as popular, sometimes your last name can get you a long way, especially in sports.

Let's take a look at Dale Earnhardt Jr's career numbers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Dale has 18 wins, 142 top 10's and 8 poles. His last Cup win came at Michigan in 2008, it's been well over a year since Jr has won a race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. So please tell me why does he win the Most Popular Driver Award year in and year out? What has he proven? He hasn't won a Championship in Cup and didn't even come close to making the Chase in 2009, he finished a career low 25th in the standings. Dale turned 35 in October and is obviously running out of time to win a Championship, if he hasn't won one yet it makes me wonder why he's still trying, it's only going to get more difficult as he gets older. Although you have to look at Mark Martin, he's in his 50's and he finished 2nd in the Sprint Cup Standings and had a shot at winning the title over Jimmie Johnson for most of the year so age isn't necessarily the problem and if age isn't, that what is it?

I know most of Jr Nation must go click happy when it comes to voting because god forbid Dale Jr doesn't win it again and again. No other driver seems to come close at all so why not just put Jr as the only driver your allowed to vote for, he's going to win anyways. I would like to see Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, one of those guys win it for a change. NASCAR might as well announce at the Daytona 500 in February that Jr has won the Most Popular Driver Award for 2010 and save everyone the wait of hearing it in December at the awards ceremony.

I honestly thought that Jr's move to Hendrick Motorsports was suppose to help his career as well as better Hendrick Motorsports even more than it already is, Hendrick is already a top team, if not the #1 top team in NASCAR today. I figured with Jr going to Hendrick that that organization would be unstoppable, everyone has done great except Team 88. I hope that Rick and Team 88 can figure things out for 2010, that team needs a good year and if Jr doesn't have a good year I don't know how much longer he'll be in NASCAR or at Hendrick Motorsports.

What do you all think, do you think Dale Earnhardt Jr is over rated? Do you think he'll ever win a championship or at least win some races in 2010 and possibly make the Chase? I'd love to hear from you, this is quite the debate and I believe it will field some great opinions and answers.

Happy Blogging!! Have a great night!

Image of Dale Earnhardt Jr is from the following website: http://images.athlonsports.com/d/8411-1/EarnhardtJr_08.jpg
I always give credit when using an image because I didn't personally take the photo and it's the right thing to do.