TV Times – Dale Jr. Washed Up? Hardly.

When you’re down, there’s some folks that like to make you feel worse. Tuning into a recent Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain on Speed, there were callers that night who thought that Dale Earnhardt Jr. is washed up. Despain was quick to retort that even his late black mustached father, driving aggressively, had a major slump during his career.

Every driver has a downturn. It’s no secret that Junior, and company, have a lot of pressure on him especially when you read stories that say that he has to win soon, very soon. However, we think that the folks, especially his fans should ease up. It’s going to happen eventually.

NASCAR on Fox posted a 4.2/10 Sunday for Sprint Cup racing from Texas. The 4.2/10 is down -11 percent compared to last year’s 4.7/10 for the same race. Once again FOX had trouble getting viewers to the set, as tune-in at the green flag was down half a rating point compared to last year (-13 percent, 3.4/9 vs. 3.9/9). That half-point decline at the start matches the half-point decline for the entire race, showing that the build of the rating through the race was normal. More positively, yesterday’s race was far and away the day’s highest-rated sports event, it delivered FOX’s best NASCAR rating in a month, and the year-to-year decline of five-tenths of a point is an improvement over the average of nine-tenths for FOX’s previous races this season. Season-to-date, NASCAR is now averaging a 5.1/10 in the metered markets, down -15 percent compared to last year’s 6.0/12. This came from StockCarGazette.com.

Here’s more troubling news but not unexpected. International Speedway Corp. is feeling the impact of the economy as its revenues from admissions, corporate spending and food and merchandise sales all have dropped from a year ago. In releasing its results for the months of December, January and February (where the two main events were Speedweeks at Daytona and the NASCAR race weekend at Auto Club Speedway in California), ISC reported admissions revenue dropped 14.8 percent, while food, beverage and merchandise revenue dropped 40.9 percent. Net income was down 31.5 percent. ISC estimates revenues will drop 8.5 to 11 percent overall in 2009 compared with 2008.

Unconfirmed reports claim that the IRL Indy Car opener held on the streets of St. Petersburg, FL didn’t have good TV ratings. A question/answer page in the Indianapolis News tells a fan if it’s true it’s no doubt due to the fact that the IRL moved the majority of the TV coverage from ABC/ESPN’s to the VS network this year..

Farnbacher Loles Racing has started the first two rounds of the American LeMans Series from the front row. Dirk Werner grabbed the pole at Sebring in the #87 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR while his teammate Wolf Henzler notched the P2 starting position at St. Pete. That’s the good news. The downside is lady luck snatched victory from the team at both tracks and the podium has been elusive.

Fast-forward to the West Coast for the third round as the team looks for a much-needed rebound at Long Beach on April 18th. “We wouldn¹t mind a little good luck right now,” said team Principal Gregory Loles. The famous street circuit at Long Beach promises to be another battle as the top teams are very close in GT2. “You saw three different manufacturers on the podium at St. Pete. That speaks volumes for how competitive this class has become. We just need the ball to bounce our way for a change.”

Werner and Henzler sit seventh in points entering Long Beach while the team is fifth in the standings. Werner spoke from his home in Germany: “It will be my first time to race in Long Beach, but I hope with my experiences from European street courses like Monaco and coming from the St. Pete race, I won’t need too much time to adapt to the track. I know that our car will be fast as it was in St Pete., which we proved with the fastest race lap. Wolf and I have to stay away from the walls and hopefully we can bring home our first win of the season. The whole team really needs a good result.”

Henzler was equally upbeat. “Dirk and I still expect to compete for the series title, even though we didn¹t get as many points as we wanted in the first two rounds. There are still a lot of races left and I know we have a good chance to win the Championship for Farnbacher Loles.”

Yes, He REALLY Said That-Jeff Burton, on Mark Martin influencing other Hendrick drivers to start workout programs. “Fitness is very important. I’m glad to see Mark set a positive influence over there and get people up and running. When a 50-year-old man is in better shape than you are, and you’re 30, then you need to get to work.” That came from the Valvoline Track Talk Newsletter.

Here’s what’s happening on the TV airwaves this weekend for gearhead action. On Monday and Tuesday at 5 p.m. it’s NASCAR Now on ESPN2. Wednesday offerings on Speed have the SCCA World Challenge at 2 p.m. while NASCAR Now goes again at 5 p.m. on The Duce. That program also goes on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. on that same cable channel.

Friday will see a major ramp up of racing action. At 2 a.m. Speed airs F1 practice from China. Speed comes back at 11 a.m. with Nationwide Practice from Phoenix followed by Sprint Cup Practice then Sprint Cup Final Practice at 3:30 p.m. ESPN2 returns with NASCAR Now at 5 p.m. Both Speed/TSN2 each air Nationwide Qualifying from Phoenix at 5:30 p.m. At 9:30 p.m. ESPN2/TSN2 each air the Nationwide race from Phoenix.

Saturday goes like this. It’s F1 Qualifying on Speed from China at 2 a.m. NASCAR Now switches to days with an 10 a.m airing on ESPN2. VS kicks in with IRL Qualifying from Long Beach, CA at 6 p.m. At the same time The Duce airs NHRA Qualifying from Atlanta, GA. At 8:30 p.m. Fox/TSN2 both air the Spring Cup race from Phoenix, AZ.

Sunday is an even busier day for the motorhead crowd. At 3 a.m. it’s the F1 GP of China on Speed. Speed comes back at 10 a.m. offering the AMA Super Lites from Seattle. ABC goes with the ALMS race from Long Beach, CA at 12:30 p.m. which was taped a day earlier. Speed comes back at 1 p.m. with the ARCA Series from Rockingham, NC at 1 p.m. CBS kicks in with the AMA SuperX from Seattle at 2 p.m. At 3:30 p.m. VS/TSN both air the IRL GP of Long Beach, CA. The Duce returns with NHRA Eliminations from Atlanta, GA at 7 p.m. Speed comes back with the Speed Report at 7 p.m. followed by NASCAR Victory Lane from Phoenix. Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain airs at 9 p.m. on Speed with a busy weekend wrap-up. (END)

NOTE: INFORMATION FOR THIS COLUMN CAME FROM VARIOUS REFERENCED SOURCES, PRESS RELEASES, NOTES AND OTHER SOURCES.

Photo is courtesy of ICON Sports Media