Dale Earnhardt Jr.: NASCAR Sprint Cup - Homestead Preview
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Nov 13, 2008
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HOMESTEAD STATS: In eight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has led 93 laps and completed almost 100 percent of all laps he has attempted (2,130 of 2,141). Earnhardt has recorded two top-15 finishes and four top-20s at the 1.5-mile oval. He scored his best finish—13th—at Homestead during his rookie season in November 2000.
2008 IN REVIEW: Since his Budweiser Shootout win in February, Earnhardt has built up a highlight reel in his first year with Hendrick Motorsports. In 35 races, he has posted an average starting position of 9.9, which is the best of his Cup career, and he already has completed 314 more laps this season than in 36 events in 2007. Earnhardt has recorded one win (Michigan in June) and 10 top-five finishes. He can score his 17th top-10 result Sunday at Homestead, which would match his total from the 2006 campaign. Earnhardt has accumulated more than 17 top-10 results only twice in his eight full Cup seasons (2000-2007)—in 2003 (21) and 2004 (21).
CHASSIS FOR HOMESTEAD: Crew chief Tony Eury Jr. and the No. 88 engineers have chosen Chassis No. 88-499 for the season finale at Homestead. This is the same chassis the team raced at Kansas Speedway in September when Earnhardt captured a 13th-place finish.
CHASE STAT: This season marked the third in which Earnhardt qualified for the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup. Earnhardt has scored two top-five finishes, three top-10s and has led 91 laps during the nine races of the Chase. Four points separate eighth-place Matt Kenseth, ninth-place Denny Hamlin and Earnhardt. As he enters the season finale, Earnhardt trails fifth-place Kevin Harvick by 146 points, sixth-place Clint Bowyer by 139 points and seventh-place Jeff Gordon by 64 points.
CHASE FINALE: During the 2004 and 2006 seasons, when Earnhardt competed for the Cup in the 10-race Chase, he spent a majority of the events at Homestead running in the top 10. In 2006, he led twice for 47 laps before crossing the finish line in 19th place.
INTERMEDIATE STRENGTH: The No. 88 team has been strong on 1.5-mile racetracks this season. Earnhardt recorded three top-five finishes, six top-10s and one pole position in nine starts at intermediate tracks Atlanta Motor Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway.
LAST TIME AT HOMESTEAD: Earnhardt, driver of the No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet, started 13th and ran in top 20 for the first 52 laps during his last outing at Homestead in November 2007. Within the next 10 laps of that race, however, he was involved in back-to-back incidents on the front stretch that cost him positions. Earnhardt climbed five spots to finish the race 36th.
DOUBLE DUTY: Earnhardt will pilot the No. 5 National Guard Chevrolet for JR Motorsports during the NASCAR Nationwide Series race on Saturday. This will mark the ninth time this season that Earnhardt has competed in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series in the same weekend. In eight Nationwide Series starts this season, Earnhardt has three top-five finishes and six top-10s. The two-time Nationwide Series champion (1999 and 2000) has one top-five finish and two top-10s at Homestead in four Nationwide Series starts.
HENDRICK AT HOMESTEAD: Hendrick Motorsports has clinched two Sprint Cup championships (2006 and 2007) at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but has yet to enter Victory Lane there. In nine Sprint Cup events at the 1.5-mile oval, Hendrick drivers have combined for seven top-five finishes, 14 top-10s and one pole position. Jimmie Johnson, the back-to-back defending Sprint Cup champion, was the runner-up in the 2004 race.
HENDRICK RECORDS 175TH WIN: Car owner Rick Hendrick recorded his 175th Sprint Cup win when Johnson took the checkered flag on Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway. Hendrick’s victories, which started in April 1984 with driver Geoffrey Bodine at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, rank him first among car owners in NASCAR’s modern era (1972-present) and second all-time.
QUOTES
DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER OF THE NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY IMPALA SS (ON THE CHALLENGES OF RUNNING AT HOMESTEAD.): “The corners are real tight, and the car doesn’t want to turn and roll through the center like you would expect it to. I haven’t driven a Hendrick car there so I’m hoping when I go there it will be different. But the corners are always tighter than they look, and I always end up getting tight through the center, and trying to roll the center (at Homestead) is tough for me. We’ve had some good runs, good cars. Had a good car there last year and got wrecked. I still haven’t had a good finish since they reconfigured the track.”
EARNHARDT (ON WHAT IT WOULD MEAN TO GET HENDRICK’S FIRST WIN AT HOMESTEAD.): “It’d be cool. I’ll just take a win wherever. But winning at Homestead would be great for me, too, because I’ve been struggling getting the results there that I feel like I should get. I like the place. I just can’t get the finish I want.”
EARNHARDT (ON WHAT IT MEANS TO SEE TEAMMATE JIMMIE JOHNSON VIE FOR TITLE.): “That’s big deal for Jimmie. It’s great because it brings Cale Yarborough back into the conversation, which I like. I think Jimmie will appreciate it. Jimmie deserves it. He’s that kind of race car driver to the sport. He’s going to go down as pretty recognizable as far as talent. He’ll get a lot of credit for how good of a race car driver he is. It’s a pretty big deal for the sport. It’s good all the way around for everybody.”
EARNHARDT (ON HOW YARBOROUGH AND JOHNSON COMPARE.): “To be a successful race car driver, there have to be some similarities. Polar opposites rarely can accomplish the exact same thing. So there has to be some similarities between the two. But just as they are different in physical appearance—Cale is short and stocky and tough as nails, and Jimmie’s tall and slender, more articulate about himself—they’re kind of the same way on the racetrack. Cale was rough around the edges and run-like-hell all the time, hard all the time. And Jimmie’s smooth and calculative about everything. But there are a lot of similarities about them, too.”
TONY EURY JR., CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY IMPALA SS: (ON THE CHALLENGES OF HOMESTEAD.): “Homestead is just a totally different track. It looks like a Chicago or a Kansas, but the setup is nothing like it. It’s pretty wild. We really haven’t had a whole lot of success there. We’ve led some laps and we’ve run fairly well, but we’ve never put the whole race together. If I did have to say there is a sore spot, it’s Homestead. I think we’ll be fine once we get down there. That’s just a totally different racetrack. It’s really unique, and it takes a different setup. And you’ve got to go there with an open mind.”
EURY (ON WHAT MAKES HOMESTEAD CHALLENGING.): “It’s just so different from anything you’ve ever run. Every setup I’ve ever had there, you go with something like you run at Michigan or California, and it just doesn’t work. It’s a unique deal the way they put the corners in there and the flat straightaways and all. It’s kind of like Darlington ((S.C.) Raceway). It’s just got its own personality.”
