QUOTES
DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER OF THE NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON MICHIGAN.): “It’s a good track. Believe it or not, it’s a real challenge to find side-by-side racing in this sport, but you will find it at Michigan. That track is really wide, and it has a lot of grooves through the corner. You’ll see cars trying different lines, and guys can run side-by-side and have fun. It’s a fun racetrack to race on, and they put on a great show. I’ve always enjoyed running there and have had some pretty good success there.”
EARNHARDT (ON BEING THE DEFENDING RACE WINNER.): “It’s not something I think about a whole lot, but it was nice to get that first (points) win with Hendrick Motorsports. I just enjoy racing at Michigan, period. I like the track itself. But coming in as the race winner does give your team a bit of extra motivation. For the team it will be a really good confidence booster entering the weekend knowing they’ve won the race before.”
EARNHARDT (ON IF HE DOES ANYTHING TO PREPARE FOR THE HEAT OF SUMMER.): “Hot is hot. It’s not going to make any difference if it’s 110 degrees or 80 degrees—it’s still hot in the car. There’s no difference. You either can take it or you can’t.”
LANCE MCGREW, INTERIM CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON THE CHALLENGES OF MICHIGAN.): “It’s not any harder to set up a car for Michigan than anywhere else. It’s big, it’s wide. I heard the winter took a little bit of a toll on it. There are some more cracks that didn’t used to be there so we are going to have to deal with that. It’s a real racy racetrack; it’s fast and downforce is a premium. But downforce is a premium everywhere we go. It’s not drastically different than any other racetrack.”
MCGREW (ON THE ADDED PRESSURE OF EARNHARDT BEING THE DEFENDING RACE WINNER.): “The race was won with very, very good pit strategy, and the team was fortunate enough to get the win. From a team standpoint, I don’t know if it gives you an added swagger coming back there. If you led every lap and won, it’s a little different, and you may have a little more confidence in your setup going back. It’s definitely not a disadvantage, don’t get me wrong. But I think a pit strategy win is a different kind of animal.
MCGREW (ON HIS PRIMARY FOCUS.): “Right now I’m working on my relationship with Dale and trying to get his confidence and the team’s confidence and trying to get the right people in the right places. It’s a project. It’s like he said, ‘We’re building Rome, and it’s not going to happen right away.’”
MCGREW (ON GENERAL MOTORS’ SUPPORT OF HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS.): “It’s not just this organization that benefits from GM’s support, the entire sport itself benefits. As Mr. H (Rick Hendrick) says, he’s been a Chevy supporter for a long time, and we’ve won a lot of races—all in Chevrolets. That manufacturing backing and engineering support, the financial support. Just everything that Chevrolet has brought to the table in this sport has made NASCAR better. They are the benchmark that has driven other manufacturers to get into the sport, to draw new manufacturers in.”
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