Dale Earnhardt Jr.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series - Talladega Preview
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Sep 30, 2008
CIA Stock Photo, Inc.
THAT’S A WRAP: Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet will have a different look this weekend, thanks to the “Ride with Dale Jr.” promotion from AMP Energy. More than 70,000 names in 13-point font adorn the No. 88 Chevy for this weekend’s AMP Energy 500. Hendrick Motorsports graphics director Jim Gravlin spent almost 80 hours developing a stencil for the wrap by hand and then used his computer to place the names. The entire project, which required five test trials, took roughly 200 hours to complete.
TALLADEGA STATS: In 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Talladega Superspeedway, Earnhardt Jr. has recorded five wins, seven top-five finishes and 10 top-10s. He has led 616 laps and averages a finish of 14.1, most recently taking 10th at the superspeedway in April.
ELITE COMPANY: Earnhardt Jr.’s five wins at Talladega are the most for him at any one track and rank him third all-time among drivers at the 2.66-mile oval. Earnhardt Jr.’s father, Dale Earnhardt Sr., scored 10 wins at the track, while his teammate, Jeff Gordon, has recorded six.
SUPER ON SPEEDWAYS: In his nine full Sprint Cup seasons, Earnhardt Jr. has demonstrated a knack for restrictor-plate racing. In 35 races at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and Talladega, he has recorded seven wins, 13 top-five finishes and 21 top-10s. Earnhardt Jr. has led a combined 998 laps at both tracks.
HENDRICK AT TALLADEGA: Casey Mears (seventh place) and Earnhardt Jr. (10th) were the top finishers for Hendrick Motorsports in April at Talladega. Rick Hendrick’s teams have won 10 events and led 1,842 laps there, both of which rank as the most for any Sprint Cup owner. Additionally, Hendrick drivers have scored 40 top-five finishes and 57 top-10s at the track.
CHASSIS FOR TALLADEGA: Crew chief Tony Eury Jr. and the No. 88 engineers have chosen Chassis No. 88-478 for this weekend’s race at Talladega. It is the same car that Earnhardt Jr. drove to lead 47 of the 70 laps in the Budweiser Shootout en route to a victory at Daytona International Speedway in February. Chassis 88-478 also performed well at Talladega in April, when Earnhardt Jr. finished 10th after leading 46 laps. The team also raced this chassis at Daytona in July, leading 51 laps before finishing eighth.
TESTING 1, 2: Hendrick Motorsports regularly sends its fleet of Impala SS Chevrolets to the wind tunnel, particularly when it comes to preparing for superspeedways like the 2.66-mile racetrack at Talladega. Kurt Romberg, chief aerodynamicist for Hendrick Motorsports, has spearheaded the effort since 2001.
CITIZEN SOLDIER: The band 3 Doors Down wrote the song “Citizen Soldier” as a tribute to the 350,000 people who serve in the National Guard. The song, which debuted in 2007, was used as the soundtrack for a National Guard promotional spot that ran in movie theaters across the country. The band will play a private concert this week at Talladega for contest winners.
QUOTES
DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER OF THE NO. 88 AMP ENERGY “RIDE WITH DALE JR."/NATIONAL GUARD IMPALA SS (ON RACING IN THE AMP ENERGY 500.): “Having your sponsor headline the race does add a little pressure because they’re anticipating for you to do well. I don’t really know how the sponsors look at it, but I assume they take note to where their car is at the finish of that race. I’m assuming that’s why they picked that racetrack and picked that particular even to sponsor. It adds a little pressure. Every time people add pressure it always helps me. It’s good for me—people pushing me. It motivates a little bit.”
EARNHARDT (ON HIS FAN BASE IN TALLADEGA.): “You just try to get in the lead as soon as you can because that’s what they came for. Try to be in the lead as much as you can—they want you out front; they want you leading every lap—so you just work really hard to do that. I think they understand the odds of winning versus losing, but they want you to be in the mix at the end. If I’m in the mix and feel like if I would have done one thing differently and I might have won, then I kind of feel like I paid my dues. But if I’m not in the mix, and I don’t have a shot to win, and I’m nowhere near the front near the end, then I feel like I’ve let everybody down.”
