Dale Jr. all smiles

Ever notice that NASCAR takes on a higher profile and appears more successful when Dale Earnhardt Jr. is smiling?

That bodes well for the 2015 Sprint Cup season.

Earnhardt, who wears his emotions on the sleeve of his fire-proof Nationwide uniform, has openly admitted to a smothering self-doubt over a stretch of three winless seasons (2009-11) with a perplexing total of only nine top-five finishes.

But a resurgent 2014 campaign produced four victories, including his second in the Daytona 500, and eight other top-fives and provided a confidence boost that has carried into this season.

Third-place finishes in both the Daytona 500 and the Folds of Honor 500 at Atlanta last Sunday strongly hint at momentum that could generate his best shot at that elusive championship since 2004, when he won six races but fell short.

Earnhardt Jr.’s entire career has played out in the huge shadow of his late father, the swashbuckling Intimidator who captivated the sport winning a record-tying seven championships before his fatal crash in the 2001 Daytona 500.

But through good times and bad, Earnhardt Jr. has been disarmingly candid, honest to a fault if that’s possible. That’s why his observations and positive mindset through the launch of his 16th full season ring true.

Many credit crew chief Steve Letarte for the resurrection of his winning ways. Earnhardt Jr. leads that chorus. “He turned my career around,” the sport’s most marketable driver has said.

But even Letarte’s abdication of his seat on the No. 88 Chevrolet’s pit box for a place in the NBC-TV booth, announced before their final 2014 season together, has not chipped away at Earnhardt’s positive aura.

Greg Ives, Letarte’s replacement, not only served as the race engineer for the No. 48 team as Jimmie Johnson rampaged through five consecutive Cup championship seasons.

He also choreographed Chase Elliott’s 2014 Nationwide (now Xfinity) title-winning romp for Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports as crew chief. Elliott, son of 1988 Cup champion Bill Elliott, became at age 18 the youngest champion in the history of NASCAR’s three national series.

“Our communication is natural … feels good,” Earnhardt Jr. said at Daytona of a smooth transition and instant rapport with Ives. “(He’s) a pretty decent cheerleader, too.”

For the driver who always leads the league in cheers, Letarte demonstrated that Earnhardt Jr. functions best when he’s getting positive reinforcement from the pit box.

He seems as comfortable in his own skin today as he ever has. He turned 40 last October, which must make everyone who has been around the sport for awhile feel really old.

Earnhardt Jr. reflected after his victory at Martinsville, Va., two weeks after that birthday, “I think the older you get, you definitely come to appreciate how challenging it is (to win), how the competition is very difficult, how so many guys out there are capable of winning.”

Re-establishing last year that he clearly is among them has re-energized him. And it shows. He’s smiling a lot.