Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Dale Earnhardt Jr. most popular driver - 540 Dunk by a 5'9 kid - Speculation increases about Mangini’s future in Cleveland

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. most popular driver
LAS VEGAS -- Despite struggles on the track, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won NASCAR's most popular driver award for the eighth straight year.
The award was presented to the Hendrick Motorsports driver during Thursday's National Motorsports Press Association Myers Brothers luncheon at the Bellagio.
Earnhardt is closing in on the record 10 straight most popular driver awards won by Bill Elliott from 1991 to 2000. Elliott is the all-time winner of the award with 16, followed by Richard Petty with 10, Earnhardt with eight and Bobby Allison with seven.
Earnhardt won despite finishing 21st in points and missing the Chase for the second straight year and third time in four seasons. He is in the midst of a 93-race losing streak dating back to Michigan in 2008.
Team owner Rick Hendrick announced last week that he was moving Earnhardt into the same shop with five-time defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and pairing him with Jeff Gordon crew chief Steve Letarte.
Gordon will now share a shop with Mark Martin and have Alan Gustafson as his crew chief.
Johnson's crew chief, Chad Knaus, said it's "hard to say how it's going to affect us."
He also said change is good and he's "definitely looking forward to having Dale as a part of the 48-88 shop."
"It's definitely got some potential," Knaus said.



Speculation increases about Mangini’s future in Cleveland
Don’t tell Browns coach Eric Mangini that December games are meaningless for losing teams.
Last year, a four-game winning streak to close the season saved Mangini’s job. This season, back-to-back losses to the Bills and Bengals have folks in Cleveland believing that Mangini could be on his way out.
Marla Ridnour of the Akron Beacon-Journal believes that “not even a split” of the Browns’ final two games would save Mangini’s job. Dennis Manoloff of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer also believes the entire coaching staff will be gone unless the Browns win the last two games. (The same paper said last week Mangini needed to win two of their final three games for him to stay.)
Rookie quarterback Colt McCoy partially blamed the team’s effort for the loss.
“It’s our division — you’ve got to get hyped up. I thought early on we lacked a little bit of energy — we lacked a little bit of intensity,” McCoy said.
The Browns gave up 188 yards rushing, and only had one rushing first down on offense. Essentially, the Browns looked like the opposite of what we’ve come to expect from a team that has mostly played better than their 5-9 record indicates.
Once again, the team’s December play may decide Mangini’s January fate.

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