News & Notes
AT FONTANA: In 18 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Auto Club Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has scored three top-five finishes, four top-10s and led 28 laps. He recorded a career-best runner-up finish at the Fontana, Calif., racetrack in September 2006.
POINTS REPORT: Earnhardt, driver of the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet, currently ranks ninth in the Sprint Cup Series championship standings. He trails leader Kurt Busch by 26 points.
INTERMEDIATE TRACK STATS: In 194 Cup starts on intermediate (one- to two-mile) tracks, Earnhardt has recorded six wins, six pole positions, 38 top-five finishes and 72 top-10s. He has a 16.2 average starting position and an average finishing position of 17.5 on these racetracks.
CHASSIS CHOICE: Crew chief Steve Letarte will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-649 for this weekend’s 400-mile event at Auto Club Speedway. This is a brand new chassis that has not been raced.
HENDRICK AT CALIFORNIA: Hendrick Motorsports has scored nine wins, 28 top-five finishes and 39 top-10s in 21 Cup events (82 starts) at Auto Club Speedway. Six of those top-five results were one-two finishes by Hendrick Motorsports teammates. Gordon led Terry Labonte to Victory Lane in June 1997. Gordon also won in May 2004, leading teammate Jimmie Johnson across the finish line. In October 2009, Johnson took first and Gordon finished second.
APPROACHING 200: With Gordon’s win last month at Phoenix International Raceway, Hendrick Motorsports now owns 195 victories. The organization ranks first in the modern era for wins and second all-time behind Petty Enterprises, which has 268 victories.
Quotes
DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER, NO. 88 AMP ENERGY /NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON RACING AT CALIFORNIA.):
“California is a track I need to run better at. One of the biggest challenges there is that the track is flat and doesn’t have a ton of grip. Basically, you have to keep a really good aero platform and keep the car from getting too free off the corners. That’s been one of our challenges in the past. Hopefully, this weekend will give us a chance to try to improve on what we’re doing. Steve (Letarte, crew chief) and the guys are working really hard. I’m excited to see what we do out there.”
STEVE LETARTE, CREW CHIEF, NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON THE TEAM’S GOALS FOR AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY.):
“We are really going to every track like it’s the first time we’ve been there. We didn’t try to raise the excitement or expectations at Bristol (Tenn.), we are going to do the same thing for California. Everywhere we go, our goal is to qualify well. I would consider qualifying in the top 20 as decent and top 15 as a more realistic goal. I would be happy with a top-15 qualifying effort. Our goal at every race is to run top 15. There is no reason you should ever run outside the top 15 with a car that doesn’t have any mechanical problems. Tenth to 15th is where you should get with a car that you aren’t too happy with. You should get in the top 10 with a chassis that’s good, and if you really hit the chassis setup then you need to come in with a top-five finish. That’s been our goal outside of Daytona (Fla.), and that will be our goal at Fontana. We have three really, really good teammates there. Jimmie (Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet) runs good there and Jeff (Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet) has a lot of consistency out there and Mark (Martin, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet) runs well there. So we’ll lean on all our teammates to make sure we have good directions heading in to each practice.”
LETARTE (ON THE CHALLENGES AT CALIFORNIA.):
“It’s the biggest short track we run. That track is extremely slick. To be a two-mile track, grip is of an absolute premium. It’s a very hard place to get ahold of because you can’t put the high-grip package in because you need to be concerned about aero. It’s probably the hardest track there is to balance aero versus mechanical grip. The paving seams in Turns 1 and 2 are a major issue. If you have an ill-handling car or a car that needs to use a couple lanes, it’s very hard to cross over the paving seams. Those are probably the two biggest issues.”
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