Dale Earnhardt Jr Dale Earnhardt Jr. is looking for three Cup wins in 2010.

Perhaps no current driver receives as much publicity as the son of the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. “Junior,” as he’s called by many of his fans, didn’t have a good season last year. It was really a terrible year, as he went winless. What made it even worse is he was with the best financed team in NASCAR, Hendrick Motorsports.

After bringing on Lance Mc- Grew as crew chief midway during the season, things picked up a little for Junior and his No. 88 team, but he still failed to make the 12-man Chase.

It’s been more than two months since the end of the season, and Earnhardt Jr. said the entire team has been focusing on teamwork

“We’ve worked hard and our goal is to win as many races as we can, win a championship, challenge for the championship,” he said during the preseason Fan Fest. “I’d like to win – I think anything less than three races this year, I’d be a little bit disappointed.”

Earnhardt Jr. said McGrew has told him that the attitude in the shop is much different than it was last season and that his confidence with the No. 88 car will be improved.

Other changes have been made among the shop personnel. Hendrick Motorsports has committed to having the Mark Martin and Earnhardt Jr. teams work more closely in 2010, just as the Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon teams have done in the past.

After moving to Hendrick at the start of 2008 from Dale Earnhardt Inc., the team his father founded, Earnhardt Jr. had a good first half of the season with his new team, capped by a win in June at Michigan International Speedway. Since then, it has been pretty much a struggle.

“When I miss the Chase ... I feel like I’ve let them (fans) down,” Earnhardt said. “They put up a fight with you all year long. They fight every week right there with you. They argue their way through every day of work with somebody who’s pulling against you. So they fight their own battles just like I do out on the racetrack.”

“So, yeah, you feel like you have let them down when you don’t make the Chase at least. I mean – damn! – you hope to make the Chase. That’s not really asking a terrible amount from your drivers. So you feel pretty bad. I think that’s the thing that bothers me the most out of having a disappointing year.”

His teammate, Jeff Gordon, thinks all Earnhardt needs is one good finish to boost his confidence.

“It doesn’t take much to get off track,” Gordon said. “I mean, it’s so competitive out there. And I know that sometimes it looks like they’re way off, but I don’t think they’re off as far as people think. ... I think it just is going to a take a fresh start – a few things.”

“Hopefully, all the hard work they’re putting in over the offseason will help them get started off in the right foot and be able to not break the confidence down too early – because once you get it broke down, it’s hard to get it back.”

Casey Mears is the latest Cup driver to hit the unemployment line.

Richard Childress Racing announced it would not bring the No. 07 car, driven by Mears in 2009, to Daytona. The decision to shut down the No. 07 team is due to the lack of sponsorship. Original plans were to run Mears and the team in the season-opening Daytona 500 and possibly the four subsequent races since the 07 had a guaranteed starting spot by virtue of its position within last year’s Top 35. But that idea was scrubbed by RCR, when a sponsor could not be found.

“Right now we’re going to run three Cup teams out of our shop,” Childress told the Peoria (Ill.) Star Journal, “and possibly a rookie somewhere along the line, but, right now it’s three teams. Casey, I’m hoping to try to find him something. He hasn’t landed anything yet. He’s a great guy and did a great job for us at the end of the year, and I just wish there was something we could do with him, but right now, I don’t want to do anything with a fourth team that’s going to take away from our other three teams.”

Sam Hornish Jr. still has his ride with Penske Racing, but 2010 will be a pivotal year for the former open-wheel star.

As he enters his third season in the No. 77 Dodge, the former IRL champ continues to struggle in the Cup Series. While seven top-10s were a huge ’09 improvement, half-a-dozen wrecks led to DNFs that kept him mired 28th in points.

With new teammate Brad Keselowski expected to up the performance of the No. 12 car and Kurt Busch returning, Hornish sits low man on the totem pole with a three-car team capable of challenging Hendrick for the championship. You wonder how much longer the owner will tolerate wrecked race cars and a troubling inconsistency that’s plagued Hornish and his team.

NASCAR will replace the wing on the new Cup car, maybe as early as the Spring Martinsville race.

Teams were informed last week that an open test will be held March 23-24 at Charlotte Motor Speedway to re-introduce the spoiler to the cars’ rear-deck lids. And while no firm date has been set for the spoiler to replace the wing, it appears the earliest the change could be made would be the March 28 event at 1/2-mile Martinsville, the sixth race on the 2010 schedule.

Sprint Cup Director John Darby, in a memo issued to teams, said the wing would be replaced by an aluminum spoiler.

The wing was a major part of NASCAR’s new race car – originally known as the Car of Tomorrow – that was used in 16 races in 2007 and full time in 2008 and 2009. The wing never gained traction with fans, who said it detracted from what a NASCAR race car should look like, or drivers, who complained it was a major part of an ill-handling package.

Racing trivia question: When is the first points race of the 2010 NASCAR Cup season?

Last week’s question: Who will drive the No. 82 Red Bull Toyota in this year’s Budweiser Shootout? Answer. Veteran Ken Schrader.

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