NEWS & NOTES
FIRST WINS: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet, was just seven races into his rookie season when he recorded his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win on April 2, 2000. Earnhardt, then 25 years old, started the race at Texas Motor Speedway fourth and led 106 laps on his way to Victory Lane. He also recorded his first career win in the NASCAR Nationwide Series at the 1.5-mile oval two years earlier on April 4, 1998.
TEXAS STATS: In 16 Cup starts at Texas, Earnhardt has scored one win, two pole positions, three top-five finishes and eight top-10s. Earnhardt has led at least one lap in four of the five races at Texas while driving the No. 88 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.
PERSONAL BESTS: Earnhardt’s 9.1 average start at Texas is a personal best for him at any racetrack in the Sprint Cup Series. He also ties his personal best in pole positions with two at the 1.5-mile oval. Earnhardt earned the top starting spot at Texas in April 2001 and in April 2008, his first start there with Hendrick Motorsports. He also owns two pole positions at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Michigan International Speedway.
LAPS IN THE TOP 15: According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Earnhardt leads all drivers in laps run in the top 15 at Texas. During the last 11 races there, the Kannapolis, N.C., native has spent 84.4 percent of the events (3,111 laps of 3,684 total) running in the top 15.
DRIVER RATING: According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Earnhardt is ranked seventh in the driver rating category with a score of 96.4 in the last 11 races at Texas. 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.
APPROACHING 400: Earnhardt will make his 400th Cup start at the 2011 Daytona 500 in February. In 396 starts, Earnhardt has recorded 18 wins, nine pole positions, 91 top-five finishes and 150 top-10s.
CHASSIS CHOICE: Crew chief Lance McGrew and the No. 88 team will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-625 for this weekend’s race at Texas. This is a new chassis that has not been raced or tested.
HENDRICK AT TEXAS: In 19 races (77 starts), Hendrick Motorsports has tallied three wins, 19 top-five finishes and 30 top-10s. The organization has led 1,191 laps around the 1.5- mile oval. Most recently, Jeff Gordon went to Victory Lane there for Hendrick in April 2009.
QUOTES
DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER, NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET (ON THE CHALLENGES OF TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY.):
“The most challenging part for Texas really is that you get a little tight getting into (Turns) 1 and 2. Getting into (Turn) 3 is real hard for some reason—it’s just a tricky transition down into that corner. Otherwise it’s a real fun place, and we always seem to run good there.”
EARNHARDT (ON HIS GOALS FOR THE NEXT THREE RACES.):
“I’d like to run as well as we did at Texas in the first race, and I think we should. I’ve never finished well at Homestead (Fla.), but we went and tested there so hopefully what we learned at that test will pay off.”
LANCE McGREW, CREW CHIEF, NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET (ON THE CHALLENGES OF TEXAS.):
“It’s not a place where you can have any weaknesses. The aero on your car has to be really good. Your chassis has to be really working. Your pit crew has to be really good. On all the intermediate tracks, if you have a bad pit stop, then it’s going to be a challenge to get back to the front. It’s just way easier to have a good qualifying effort in order to get a good pit selection. Everything builds on your qualifying effort, and our intermediate qualifying has definitely been better, and I’m looking forward to Texas—it’s a place that Dale really likes to go to. We’ve raced really well there, and it was probably our best intermediate race all season. From my standpoint, it’s a track that he really likes so your stuff better be right.”
McGREW (ON THE DEPTH OF HIS NOTES AFTER HIS SECOND SEASON WITH THE NO. 88 TEAM.):
“It’s definitely better, and it gets better every single week. Now that we’ve run some of these tracks two and three times, then yeah definitely. But the spring race at Texas is different from the fall race at Texas, and the same goes for Charlotte (N.C.). Even though we’ve raced three times together at Charlotte, we’ve only raced one time in the spring and twice in the fall. Until you get a couple of races under your belt at that particular time of the season, I think you are going to struggle just a tick. We were able to look at our notes from Martinsville (Va.) last year and make the changes we needed to make, and I think that is a step in the right direction.”
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