Dale Earnhardt Jr. is about the embark on the final 12 races of his career, and his last year hasn't gone according to plan. He will likely miss the playoffs, capping off a disappointing farewell.
In remarks to Racin' Today, Junior knows that teams can get stressed during tough time, and he's doing his best o guard against that.
I'm not giving up, but I'm not going to beat myself up over the head about what happens the rest of the season. We're just going to work hard. I don't want my guys to remember this season that we fought, fell apart and got negative, nasty and short with each other. I want those guys, even if we don't win or have success, I want them to remember that we worked our guts out and we stayed at it to the very end. We fought hard to the finish. We are all very close and that is probably most important is that we remain positive and keep working together.
That's the way it should be. You don't want a team focused on failure and being consumed with bickering and infighting. You want a team that's focused on winning, and, at the very least, providing the best farewell for one of NASCAR's most popular drivers.