Buoyed by a seventh-place finish in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and crew chief Steve Letarte were in excellent spirits this week leading up to Friday night's NASCAR awards ceremony at the Wynn Las Vegas Resort.
Both know, however, that more will be expected in 2012, and tops on the list will be a race win.
Earnhardt qualified for the Chase for the first time since 2008 and recorded his highest points finish since his fifth-place showing in 2006, when he drove for family-founded Dale Earnhardt Inc. Nevertheless, Earnhardt and Letarte failed to accomplish their foremost goal of the season — winning a race and breaking a drought that reached 129 races at season's end.
The stark reality is that 2011 was a year of mixed results for Earnhardt. He had 29 lead-lap finishes, his best total since 2006 (30 lead-lap finishes), and the second-best mark of his career.
Leading laps was another matter. Earnhardt posted the lowest total of laps led in his career — 52 in 36 races. His previous low was 146 laps led in 2009. By way of comparison, Earnhardt led 896 laps in 2008, his first year with Hendrick Motorsports.
The obvious conclusion is that Earnhardt made the Chase with consistent finishes but rarely had the speed to challenge for wins. It's equally apparent that he and his No. 88 team expended so much effort in qualifying for the Chase that they had little left for the final 10 races, half of which Earnhardt finished outside the top 15.
"I read that stat, and I was kind of surprised," Earnhardt told Sporting News after Thursday's Myers Brothers Luncheon at Bellagio, where he was honored as Sprint Cup's most popular driver for the ninth straight year.
"I really didn't take note of how many laps we led, but I remember, 15 races into the season, thinking to myself and talking to the media, that I had top-10 cars every week I started, and I'd really never had that before.
"We're running inside the top 10 and we're running more competitively, but there weren't really any races, aside from maybe one or two, where we were a lead car.
"We need to do a better job of that next year, and that's just simple speed."
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