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NASCAR America: Dale Earnhardt Jr. continues to struggle after Talladega

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On the 10th anniversary of Dale Jr. leaving his father's company, NASCAR America looks at his struggles in 2017.

Ten years ago today, Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced he would be leaving Dale Earnhardt Inc., at the end of the season for Hendrick Motorsports.

That’s the jumping off point for NASCAR America analysts Parker Kligerman and Dale Jarrett as they discuss Earnhardt’s struggles in what is now his final year of Cup competition.

Through 10 races, Earnhardt has only one top-10 finish, a fifth-place finish at Texas.

His woes continued at Talladega when a loose wheel forced him to pit late in the race. He’s now 25th in the points standings.

“Junior obviously missed a lot of last year,” Jarrett said. "(He came) back to a race car that was really different with a lot less downforce. Junior is one of those drivers that has a certain feel for the race car that he is looking for, maybe a little on the tighter side. Now you got this downforce taken away. The crew chief, Greg Ives and this group, they’re going to have to listen to him as to what he needs in his race car because they have a lot of ground to make up.”

Watch the video for the full discussion.