TRADIN’ PAINT: AMP Energy has launched Tradin’ Paint, a new limited time only, Dale Earnhardt Jr.-themed energy drink. The beverage is a collision of three flavors—orange, lime and berry—with all the energy ingredients and great taste that consumers expect from AMP. Featuring the same paint scheme as Earnhardt’s No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet, Tradin’ Paint also includes all the marks, dings and paint streaks that can show up on cars during a hotly contested race.
QUOTES
DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER OF THE NO. 88 THE DALE JR. FOUNDATION/AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON WINNING THE 2000 ALL-STAR RACE.): “Winning the all-star race is really hard because obviously you only get a shot at it once a year and there’s so much preparation going into it and it’s an exciting race. I think it’s a great addition to our season, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the format works out this year. I think going 10 laps at the end of the race is an exciting option for the drivers and the fans. I’m really more excited about it this year than I had been in years past. Some of the formats in my opinion were really, really boring. So this is pretty exciting for me.”
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EARNHARDT (ON CHOOSING ALL-STAR CAR.): “We normally have an open test there and we would choose that way. Tony (Eury) Jr. builds a certain car for the Budweiser Shootout and he builds a certain car for the Daytona 500 so he’ll do the same for the all-star race because it’s different races. The cars need different things, and there are different ways to build them to make them go fast. We just need a car to go quick for 10 laps. So we’ll have some options to change a few components around that we wouldn’t normally do for the longer races, and what happens is that car becomes quite a chore to switch over to run a 500- or 600-mile race the next week so they won’t typically use the same car in both events.”
TONY EURY JR., THE CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 88 THE DALE JR. FOUNDATION/AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON THE ALL-STAR RACE.): “It’s a race you always want to win. There is a lot of buildup around the week. It really shows off the p it crew guys. When teams aren’t running up front you kind of bypass how good their pit crews really are and this is a way for them to shine. They get to show off at the event downtown and again during qualifying. It’s a lot of fun and it’s a race you really want to win. You can learn a lot for the 600. We are going in to this to have a good time and let everyone show what they got.”
EURY (ON THE FORMAT.): “I like all of the smaller segments, I definitely like that. I kind of wish there wasn’t a 10-minute break right before the 10-lap segment. I’d rather have the break between the 50 and 20 lap segments. It’s just kind of taking away from some of the excitement. You should just come in and regroup and then go to the final 10 laps. I do like how they broke up the segments, but it would be neat to decide if you want two or four tires or do you want to just stay out before that last 10.”
EURY (ON STRATEGY WITH THE ALL-STAR RACE.): “I think you can pull some strategy between the first two segments. The second segment is going to be up in the air going into that second 20 whether you come in or stay out because you will only have 20 laps on those tires. So there is a possibility of staying out because you really don’t need fuel. The last 10 is going to be no holds barred. You want to be in position by then. If you aren’t in the top four when you go to that last 10, I think it would be really hard. That’s what used to make the all-star race so exciting—how much tires meant at Charlotte. You would have a guy taking two tires to get track position and one with four chasing him down. It’s going to be key being in the right place after that third segment.”
MARK MAULDIN, PIT CREW COACH FOR THE NOS. 5/88 TEAMS (ON WHAT IT MEANS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PIT CREW CHALLENGE.): “We’re really excited about it for a couple of reasons. The guys work so hard in the pits during the races and sometimes we don’t get recognized for the efforts that we do. It blends in with the performance of the car and the performance of the crew chief. This is a chance for the pit crew to get recognized individually. The guys all look forward to it. It’s a good team building effort, and we appreciate NASCAR and everybody involved who put this together for us.”
MAULDIN (ON COMPARING THE ATHLETICISM OF A PIT STOP TO A PROFESSIONAL SPORT.): “Football from a competitive standpoint is similar to racing but that’s about where it stops. The mentality is different. We get five chances. We get five plays a game, where a football player may get 40 offensive, 50 offensive plays a game. We’re closer probably to a baseball scenario with the hitter getting four chances and on a good night, maybe five. And we want to capitalize on these. And there’s a lot of intensity in these pit stops because we know we don’t get a lot of opportunity to show what we can do so we try to put the most into every one and there again it’s not the fastest, it’s the most efficient. That’s what we look at is efficiency.”
MAULDIN (ON HIS APPROACH TO PIT PRACTICE THIS SEASON.): “I’ve done a lot more scripting of practices, a lot more down to the minute details of rounds that we feel like we’re putting the car at the particular upcoming race. I think the focus of practice has changed. They’re getting a lot more feedback. We evaluate practice every day. They get feedback. Their practices are evaluated just like their race videos are, so they get a grade every day on how they practice comparatively to how they race. We don’t want to lose anything from the practice to the racetrack. They’ve been grading in the 90s at practice.”
MAULDIN (ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE NO. 88 TEAM.): “Our 88 guys. They can do a 12-second pit stop, get Junior out really good or we’re right on that edge, and that’s the way those guys are. They’re fast, but the potential for speed also increases your potential for error. What I’ve tried to do is balance that, harness some of that speed and convert it into being more fundamentally sound so that we can be fast and efficient.
“We’ve looked at some of our personnel and made some changes in our personnel to try to blend talent. We’ve had good pit crew men on the 88, but it was a question of blending that talent. We didn’t want the front to be finished ahead of the back or the back ahead of the front. We want everything happening at the same time, and we tried to balance that somewhat from a philosophy standpoint, from a performance standpoint and try to blend all that together. Just eliminate errors is what we’re trying to do.”
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MAULDIN (ON WHAT IT’S LIKE TO RUN A PIT STOP FOR EARNHARDT.): “Junior’s such an intense individual. People think because he’s quiet, he’s distant, but he’s not. He’s got so much talent and he’s so intense that he wants things right, and we do, too. It’s just an honor and a privilege being involved with him and (crew chief) Tony (Eury) Jr. Tony Jr. is so smart about race cars and people. I really am appreciative, and I know our pit crews are, too, to have the opportunity to work with those guys.”
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