Dale Earnhardt Jr.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series - Bristol Preview
Show your support.
Buzz this article up.
Aug 20, 2008
CIA Stock Photo, Inc.
AT BRISTOL: In 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has one win, seven top-five finishes and 10 top-10s. He has led 743 laps and made his best start—from the outside pole position—on Aug. 24, 2002. He scored the win on Aug. 28, 2004, when he rallied back from starting 30th and led 295 laps on his way to Victory Lane.
TEN MAN: Since that August 2004 win, Earnhardt has recorded six top-10 finishes in the last seven events at Bristol Motor Speedway. Four times during that stretch, Earnhardt posted top-five finishes, including the last two races—August 2007 and March 2008—when he scored fifth-place results.
FOLLOW THE LEADER: Earnhardt, driver of the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet, has led at least one lap during 18 of the 23 Sprint Cup events this season. Earnhardt has led a total of 706 laps, which is more than he recorded after 23 races in any of his nine full Cup seasons and more than he recorded during his entire 2000 (426 laps), 2005 (169 laps), 2006 (444 laps) and 2007 (433 laps) campaigns.
HENDRICK AT BRISTOL: The last time a Hendrick Motorsports car failed to produce a top-10 result at Bristol happened on Aug. 26, 2000. At the time, the organization was a three-car team with Gordon, Terry Labonte and Jerry Nadeau. That is a streak of 16 consecutive Bristol races with a Hendrick car in the top 10. Since 1986, when Hendrick became a multi-car team, the organization has recorded a top-10 finish in all but five of the 45 Bristol races. Overall, Hendrick drivers have combined for eight wins, 36 top-five finishes, 66 top-10s and eight pole positions.
REDSKINS VS. PANTHERS: Washington Redskins tight end Chris Cooley made the trek to Michigan International Speedway in June to spend some time with Earnhardt. The duo became friends two years ago when Cooley visited Lowe’s Motor Speedway. The Redskins travel to Charlotte, N.C., on Saturday to play the Carolina Panthers in a preseason matchup. Earnhardt will be competing at Bristol on Saturday night, but he will be waiting to hear how Cooley and his team fare against the Panthers.
BEGINNING TO WRAP: Although the AMP Energy 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway isn’t until October, Hendrick Motorsports already is assembling the No. 88 Chevy car design, which will hold the names of more than 70,000 Earnhardt fans. The Ride with Dale Jr. paint scheme, which has required more than 100 hours of labor, started with Hendrick Motorsports graphic director Jim Gravlin designing the car and incorporating each of the 70,000-plus names into the artwork. This week, the team will start wrapping the car with a custom-made decal.
BRISTOL CHASSIS: Crew chief Tony Eury Jr. and the No. 88 engineers have chosen Chassis No. 88-421 for Saturday night’s race at Bristol. Earnhardt has driven Chassis 421 to a pair of top-10 finishes this season—fifth at Bristol and sixth at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. It was last run at Dover (Del.) International Speedway where Earnhardt was involved in an early race accident.
QUOTES
DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER OF THE NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD IMPALA SS (ON BRISTOL.): “I’m looking forward to Bristol because I’ve had some success there, and it’s good short track racing. Although I like racing at the Michigans and Atlantas because they are fast and you can choose your groove, I’ve grown up racing at short tracks and just like them. We did good last time at Bristol so hopefully we can be consistent and finish next weekend out from start to finish.”
TONY EURY JR., CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD IMPALA SS (ON BRISTOL.): ”It’s a lot of fun. It’s a fast half-mile, high-banked track. It’s probably one of your better short tracks. It’s really a lot of fun. I think all the teams like to go there. It’s close to home, and it’s just got an excitement itself. There’s probably 150,000 people there, and you can have a lot of fun—just the excitement and the people hollering. A lot of people say it takes a lot of luck to do well there. You can be leading a race and something happens, and it’s over real quick. It’s like a gigantic choo-choo train riding around the track. One car comes loose, and there’s a big wreck.”
EURY (ON WHY EARNHARDT DOES WELL THERE.): “I think it’s just a track that fits his style. It takes a rhythm, and it’s fast paced. He’s raced there a ton of laps on simulation, and I think it just fits his driving style. We’ve run good there ever since we were in the Busch (now Nationwide) cars. We’ve always run really well there. We’ve won one time, but it just seems like we’ve had really good cars just not capitalized on them.”
EURY (ON WHAT HE LEARNED FROM LAST YEAR’S RACE.): “We didn’t really qualify that well last year at Bristol. We were kind of off the pace on the first day, and the second day we kind of got it together and actually ran really well in the race. We’re just going to go back, and now that we have a handle on where we need to start, we’ll start the weekend out and get us a better qualifying position. During the race we were pretty good. It was just a matter of pit strategy. We lost some track position right there at the end of the race, so we are looking to capitalize on that.”
EURY (ON THE TRACK IN AUGUST VERSUS MARCH.): “It will definitely be hotter so you really have to pay attention to the grip level of the car during practice. As the night comes, the car is definitely going to tighten up. You’ve just got to really pay attention to not over-adjust the car and tighten it up too much because as the night comes on, it’s just going to get tighter and tighter.”
EURY (ON HIS FAVORITE MEMORY AT BRISTOL.): ”I guess just winning there—to win that Sharpie 500 that night. That was pretty special. We had come close so many times, and to be able to go there and just pretty much dominate that race that night, that was a blast.”
T.J. MAJORS, SPOTTER OF THE NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATONAL GUARD IMPALA SS (ON SPOTTING AT BRISTOL.): “Bristol is a tough place to spot for sure. I just pay extra attention and keep my eyes open. I have to make sure I watch Dale Jr. and at least half the track in front of him because he will be there in a matter of seconds. Dale Jr. is good at Bristol, and, to be honest, it’s really fun to watch him there. He is good at making holes for himself. It’s fun working with someone who knows his way around there.”
