Will Dale Earnhardt Jr. break winless streak at Daytona? Gordon says he could

On Tuesday I asked a question that FOX19’s Joe Danneman proposed a week ago: “What if Dale Jr. won at Kentucky?”

While that would be a big-time, important win for the sport of NASCAR, any time Jr. wins a race at Daytona, the place where his father died on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, is a storybook ending.

And while I know Dale Jr. fans in the Cincinnati area would love to see their man win the inaugural Quaker State 400, I think every NASCAR fan knows this weekend’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona could be Jr.’s best chance to break his now 109-race winless streak.

His teammate, Jeff Gordon, a six-time winner at Daytona, calls his Hendrick Motorsports teammate one of the favorites to win this weekend at Daytona.

“I think when I think it of going to restrictor plate races, even though things have changed, I still think that Dale Junior is one of the best out there,” Gordon said on Tuesday’s NASCAR teleconference.

Earnhardt Jr. has two wins at Daytona in 23 attempts in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He won last year’s Nationwide Series race at Daytona in July driving a No. 3 painted like his dad’s old Wrangler car. A late crash took Jr. out of contention in the Daytona 500, but he’ll be good on Saturday night according to his teammate Gordon.

Jr. pushed Jimmie Johnson to the win at Talladega in April in NASCAR’s last restrictor plate race. Gordon says the two should work together again at Daytona.

Earnhardt Jr. pushed Johnson to the win at Talldega in April (Getty Images for NASCAR)

“We saw how good they were putting themselves in position to win, with Jimmie getting the win. There's no reason why that can't continue and Junior happens to be leading instead of being the pusher and maybe Jimmie can return that favor,” Gordon said.

In fact, via Twitter, Johnson joked with Earnhardt’s fans (commonly referred to as “JR Nation”) by saying, “Jr nation you crack me up. Yes the 48&88 will work together again and I do know he pushed me to the win in dega. Let's go racing!” He continued the thought with, “Let's be clear, my job is to win the race. If the same situation develops like we had in dega 9sic) & I'm pushing him, I will push him to the win.”

There will be plenty of happy Dale Jr. fans if that happens this weekend. You can count on that.