News & Notes
POINTS REPORT: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet, clinched a spot in the 2011 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup by finishing 16th in last Saturday’s final pre-Chase race at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway. Earnhardt enters the Chase seeded 10th in the standings, just 12 points behind leader Kyle Busch.
AT CHICAGO: In 10 Cup starts at Chicago, Earnhardt has one win, two top-five finishes and three top-10s. He has an average start there of 18.1 and a 16th-place average finish. He has completed 97.7 percent of all the laps he’s attempted (2,611 of 2,673 total) and has led 121 laps at the track.
WINDY CITY WIN: Earnhardt reached Victory Lane at Chicagoland Speedway on July 10, 2005. The then 30-year-old Earnhardt lined up 25th for the event and cracked the top 10 within the first 100 laps. He led the final 11 laps en route to securing the win.
LAPS IN THE TOP 15: According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Earnhardt ranks sixth among drivers for laps run in the top 15 at Chicago. During the last six races at the 1.5-mile oval, the Kannapolis, N.C., native has spent 65.2 percent of his laps (1,046 of 1,605 total) running in the top 15.
DRIVER RATING: According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Earnhardt is ranked 11th in the driver rating category at Chicago with a score of 88.9. The driver rating is a formula that combines wins, top-15 finishes, average running position while on the lead lap, average speed under green, fastest lap, most laps led and lead-lap finishes. The maximum a driver can earn in each race is 150 points. The driver rating number is used pre-race as a prediction tool and post-race as a performance evaluator.
CHICAGO CHASSIS: Crew chief Steve Letarte and the No. 88 team will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-668 this weekend at Chicago. Earnhardt most recently raced this chassis to a ninth-place finish at Pocono Raceway in August. This chassis first saw action at Michigan International Speedway in June.
CHASE TRIO: Hendrick Motorsports is the only organization in the Sprint Cup Series that has three of its teams in the 2011 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson make up half of the Chevrolet drivers that qualified for the postseason championship run. Overall six of the 12 Chase drivers will be competing in Chevys.
HENDRICK AT CHICAGO: In 10 races (42 Cup starts) at Chicagoland, Hendrick Motorsports has two wins, 15 top-five finishes and 19 top-10s. Gordon, who earned Hendrick Motorsports’ first Cup win at the racetrack in 2006, leads all drivers there with an average finish of 8.6.
BOWTIE BONANZA: Mark Martin won the most recent Cup event at Chicagoland for both Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet when he went to Victory Lane in July 2009. A Chevrolet has won seven of the 10 Cup events that have been held at the 1.5-mile racetrack.
APPROACHING 200: With Gordon’s win on Sept. 6 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports has earned 198 Cup victories. The organization ranks first in NASCAR’s modern era for wins and second all-time behind Petty Enterprises, which has 268 victories.
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