• Why he would retire from racing.

• Where he would race at if not in the Cup series.

• How long he plans to drive.

• Would he consider becoming a Cup car owner?

• Would he consider a 2nd career in broadcasting?

• Watch this and please leave your thoughts in the comments

Photo courtesy sun dazed via flickr

Is Dale Earnhardt Jr ready to retire from NASCAR? I don’t think so – but Jimmy Spencer does.

“Judging by the way he’s racing and acting, Dale Earnhardt Jr. looks ready to hang it all up…” said Spencer in an article on SPEED.

Mr. Spencer called Earnhardt out for asking about the Redskins game over the team radio during the Dover race recently, and questioned Earnhardt’s focus on racing.

Jimmy Spencer feels that Dale Jr does not have the same passion for NASCAR as his father had, and that even Kurt Busch has more interest in NASCAR than Junior.

If you believe Jimmie Spencer then Dale Jr is losing fans week after week to the likes of Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch. I don’t know of one person who has made that switch – do you?

Are Dale Earnhardt Jr fans disappointed and frustrated? Yes, but not with Junior – they are frustrated with his lack of support and competitive equipment. Dale Jr himself is frustrated too.

Maybe Jimmy Spencer has a better idea of what is going on in the No. 88 camp than everyone else. He is a former driver and current TV commentator. What do you think about his views?

Photo Courtesy The National Guard via Flickr

With a third place finish Monday at Chicagoland Speedway Dale Earnhardt Jr moved from making the Chase to being a contender to win it. Earnhardt moved up to sixth in the standings, 13 points out of the lead.

“I felt like we would do well in The Chase. These are good tracks for me” said Dale Jr.  “I felt we would rebound and kind of return to the form we started at the beginning of the year.  A lot of guys ran out of gas.  But we did adjust and improve the car and got faster at the end and drove by a bunch of guys that really weren’t saving.”

What do you think it’s going to take to move Dale Earnhardt Jr up 5 more spots in the standings? If you were in charge of the 88 team what would you do to make a difference?

For one thing it is going to take winning races. No one is going to win a championship without winning races, and Dale Jr doesn’t have a win this year. He is the only driver in the Chase without a win.

If you could speak to Dale Earnhardt Jr, Steve Letarte and Rick Hendrick what advice would you give on winning races and championships?

There’s something wrong on the No. 88 team. How can 2 cars from the same race shop run first and second at a high speed race track like Atlanta, while a third car finishes mid-pack in 19^th?

Photo courtesy Sun Dazed via Flickr

Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson battled tooth and nail for the win in the final 10 laps of the Advocare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway with Jeff Gordon holding on for the win. Dale Earnhardt Jr finished 19^th.

Is it the car that is the problem? I know one vocal Earnhardt fan who believes Dale Jr is getting Jeff Gordon’s cast-offs when it comes to having the best equipment, while Gordon and Johnson get the latest and greatest. Is that really what is going on at Hendrick Motorsports?

Is crew chief   Steve Letarte getting all the research and development data he needs? Hendrick Motorsports does a ton of R&D work and they have some of the brightest engineers interpreting the data. Is that data filtering down to the 88 team?

Steve Letarte knows how to strategize and call a race. And Dale Earnhardt Jr certainly hasn’t forgotten how to drive the car. At least the No. 88 is firmly in the Chase standings with one race to go.

What is going wrong with this race team?

Get one 5″ x 4″  decal and one one 3″ round decal celebrating Dale Jr’s Daytona win in the No. 3. Junior said this would be his last ride in the 3 car.

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Photo Courtesy NASCAR Media

10 years ago on a warm dark night, Dale Jr headed out to make things right. In a Chevy Suburban with the headlights bright. Junior would show NASCAR Nation the light. (With apologies to Johnny Cash.)

In July 2001 Dale Earnhardt Jr and a few of his friends headed out to Daytona from his home in Mooresville. It was his first trip there since that fateful day in February when Dale was lost.

Junior and his pals made their way off International Speedway Boulevard that night and drove the Suburban through the tunnel into the Daytona International Speedway infield as the moon lighted turn four. That had to be the hardest drive Dale Jr has ever made.

But he knew it was a journey he had to take.

Earnhardt told the guys in the truck that he just wanted to show them around – to see how big, bad and formidable the place really is. But everyone in that Suburban knew the real reason Junior needed to visit Daytona International Speedway once again.

Dale Jr snaked the Suburban around the Daytona infield road taking in the scene as one of the few people in the place at the time. What he really had on his mind was would he be able to race. Could he really compete on the track that had claimed his Father just a few months earlier?

That’s when he saw it.

The gate to the track was open. Earnhardt wheeled the Suburban onto the high banks and started making laps in the middle of the night – until a speedway security guard flagged him down and threw him out of the joint – never even realizing it was Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Still, Dale Jr wondered if he would be able to race in Saturday night’s Pepsi 400. Could he really put everything behind him and race for 400 miles? Would he even be competitive?

On Saturday night Dale Jr would have the answer. He led almost all of the final 50 laps. But with 6 to go Earnhardt found himself in 6^th place after the final pit stop.

It didn’t matter – Junior had a fast car.

6 laps later Dale Earnhardt Jr took the checkered flag. It was the finest moment in NASCAR history – and everything was right in the world of NASCAR.

Can he do it again in 2011?

P.S. ~ Junior drove the National Guard colors across the cake just for you since you are the top commenter on RacingWin!

Photo Courtesy NASCAR Media

Brad Keselowski wasn’t supposed to make it to the end of Sunday’s STP 400 on fuel. But Keselowski had been saving gas throughout the final run. He was coasting through the corners with the clutch in. Easy in the gas and quick off of it – doing everything possible to save gas. Keselowski saved enough to take the win. And he didn’t even know he was the leader until 2 to go when he saw his name atop the leader board. Keselowski’s crew chief Paul Wolfe kept his cards close to the vest and kept the driver calm and cool.

“I didn’t know I was leading until two laps to go,” said Keselowski. “I was instantly mad at my guys for not telling me, but you get over that pretty quick when you cross the start-finish line first.”

“It all worked out at the end, and they talk about you when you’re in victory lane, that’s all that matters.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr thought the race for the win was between himself and Denny Hamlin as the final laps ticked off at Kansas Speedway Sunday afternoon. Crew chief Steve Letarte told him so.

“I was told that that was the race for the win,” said Dale Jr. “And I genuinely believe what Steve was telling me, because I didn’t think the 2 would make it. But he saved a lot of gas. He did a great job.”

Dale Jr: Pickle Juice & Pedialyte & Vodka?

Earnhardt had some interesting ideas for how to overcome the heat exhaustion that plagued all the drivers throughout the race.

“I want to lay by the pool and drink some vodka or whatever,” said Junior. “I’ll probably chug a lot of water tonight so I’m hydrated for tomorrow. I heard drinking pickle juice is good for you or Pedialyte. I’ll give it a shot. I got some of that

Earnhardt finished 2^nd and stands 3^rd in the point standings with still nothing in the win column for 2011.

What was your take on the race? Post your thoughts in the comments below.