NEWS & NOTES
AT DOVER: In 19 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Dover (Del.) International Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has recorded one win, four top-five finishes and seven top-10s. He has completed 98.9 percent of all laps he’s attempted at “The Monster Mile” (7,523 laps of 7,604). The 34-year-old driver has led a total of 366 laps there.
LAST TRIP TO DOVER: The May race at Dover marked interim crew chief Lance McGrew’s first time calling a race for the No. 88 team. Team manager Brian Whitesell called the shots for the practice sessions and qualifying. Earnhardt climbed from his 22nd starting position that day to crack the top 10 by Lap 140. Earnhardt ran as high as third before crossing the finish line 12th to record his best Dover outing in a Hendrick Motorsports chassis.
MONSTER MILE WIN: Earnhardt’s lone Cup Series win at Dover came on Sept. 23, 2001. The victory was his second of his sophomore Cup season and the first win for the Cup Series following Sept. 11 attacks. Earnhardt displayed the American flag during his victory lap to pay tribute to the victims. In that race he started third and led 193 laps.
CHASSIS CHOICE: This weekend, McGrew and the No. 88 engineers will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-526. Earnhardt raced this chassis to a 12th-place finish at Dover in May and most recently to a ninth-place finish at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in August.
HENDRICK AT DOVER: Hendrick Motorsports, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this season, has 11 wins, 38 top-five finishes and 67 top-10s in 51 Cup events (155 starts) at Dover. Jimmie Johnson most recently visited Victory Lane there on May 31.
QUOTES
DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER, NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET (ON THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DRIVING ON CONCRETE AND ASPHALT.): “I like asphalt. Concrete’s rough. You put joints in concrete, and eventually over time it turns out like an old deck that hasn’t been treated and the joints sort of bend and flex and makes it real, real bumpy and rough. So I really like the asphalt better.”
EARNHARDT (ON THE KEYS TO SUCCESS AT DOVER.): “Dover has basically one groove, and it’s right on the bottom. So trying to get around the bottom of the racetrack and trying to keep the nose down and keep the front of the car turning and gripping is really the most important thing. There’s really not a second or third groove that works all day long. The guy that runs around the bottom and can do it the quickest is the best.”
LANCE McGREW, INTERIM CREW CHIEF, NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET (ON HOW HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH DALE EARNHARDT JR. HAS GROWN SINCE THE LAST DOVER RACE.): “I think it’s going good. It’s definitely been challenging because of the way he describes things and the way I am used to things being described is different. So that’s been an adjustment. But I think as a whole, at the racetrack we are performing better. We still aren’t getting the finishes I feel like we deserve, but I’m definitely seeing progress.”
McGREW (ON THE CHALLENGES OF RUNNING ON CONCRETE.): “I never look at it as being much different. If anything, the track stays a little more consistent. You don’t really fight, ‘OK, it’s sunny now so the track is going to free up or tighten up or whatever.’ It’s very similar to racing a regular asphalt track. There’s a little more stability in the surface, and that kind of lends your setups to be a little more stable over time.”
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