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DALE-TONA: In 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has recorded two wins, six top-five finishes and 10 top-10s. He has led 331 laps and completed almost 98 percent of all laps run (2,933 of 2,997).
BEEN THERE, DONE THAT: Earnhardt earned his first victory in Daytona’s 400-mile Sprint Cup event seven years ago on July 7, 2001. Earnhardt led 116 of the 160 laps that day and edged then-teammate Michael Waltrip by .123 seconds for an emotional finish. Earnhardt’s visit to Victory Lane—his first in a points-paying event at Daytona—came 11 years later to the day after his late father, Dale Earnhardt Sr., won his first Cup Series points race at Daytona.
DAYTONA CHASSIS: Crew chief Tony Eury Jr. and the No. 88 engineers have chosen Chassis No. 88- 478 for this weekend’s race at Daytona. It is the same car that Earnhardt drove to lead 47 of the 70 laps in the Budweiser Shootout en route to a victory in February. Chassis 88-478 also performed well at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, when Earnhardt finished 10th after leading 46 laps.
DOUBLE DUTY: Earnhardt will compete in his seventh NASCAR Nationwide Series event of 2008 on Friday evening. In 14 Nationwide Series starts at Daytona, he has led an impressive 467 laps and has recorded five wins, seven top-five finishes and eight top-10s. Earnhardt has completed 96 percent of his attempted laps (1,525 of 1,589).
PROVEN WINNER: After winning this year’s Budweiser Shootout and one of the Gatorade Duel qualifiers in February, Earnhardt has 12 combined wins at Daytona. He won the 2004 Daytona 500, the 2001 Pepsi 400, two Budweiser Shootouts (2003 and 2008) and five Nationwide Series events. Earnhardt also won his Gatorade Duel qualifying races in 2003 and 2004.
Quotes
DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER OF THE NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD DEFENDING FREEDOM (ACU)/AMP ENERGY IMPALA SS (ON RACING AT DAYTONA IN JULY.): “It’s a lot of fun. When I was a little kid, the greatest part of the summer was going to that race. That’s what you looked forward to the most—being at Daytona and playing on the beach for a week. And the race was always fun to watch, and playing with all of your buddies. It’s a points race, buts it’s probably the least-pressured points race. It’s halfway through the season so you can afford mistakes and taking chances. But it’s Daytona—it’s the beach and the summer—so the attitude and the temperament all the way around the racetrack are really laid back. It gets pretty warm. I wish it wasn’t so hot, but it’s a fun race.”
EARNHARDT (ON WHY HE ENJOYS RUNNING AT DAYTONA.): “I just like going down there. Daytona Speedweeks is a historic event. It means a lot for me personally and for my family. The track itself has a lot of history. It’s kind of like the grandfather of the series when it comes to racetracks. It demands to be respected and appreciated. It’s carried the sport in a lot of different areas. It’s given us a lot of great opportunities to put on some great races in front of some pretty large audiences. As soon as you walk in the place, it’s a totally different feeling than you get when you walk in other racetracks. It’s a little like a monument more so than a track.”
EARNHARDT (ON HIS MOST MEMORABLE FOURTH OF JULY.): “It would have to be 2001 when I came back to Daytona after February when my daddy was killed. To go back there and win was very special. We went and partied hard all week and just let it all go and had a lot of fun. We got in there to race and buckled down and won. I couldn’t believe it. Still to this day, I just don’t believe that happened the way it did. That will be hard to top.”
TONY EURY JR., CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD DEFENDING FREEDOM (ACU) /AMP ENERGY IMPALA SS: (ON DAYTONA.): “Daytona is pretty unique in July because it’s just so hot there. Handling has a lot bigger affect in July. You go down for Speedweeks (in February), and you’re down there for two weeks to tune your car in. You go there this time, and you’ve got one day. Whoever runs well there in February usually tends to run real well there in July. The biggest thing is you’ve got to make sure your car handles well. I think a lot of people are redoing their cars to get more downforce in them because the track will be slicker this time. We’re looking forward to getting down there.”
EURY (ON HIS APPROACH TO DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY.): “The driver takes care of you. You’ve got to have a well-prepared car when you leave the shop. You’re going to play the game however the game plays out as far as two tires, gas and all that, but the biggest chess game is in the seat. Dale Jr. does an awesome job with that. We leave the strategy up to him. He’s the one who has to put the moves together and find drafting partners. We just make sure that when the caution comes out we can make the proper calls.”
EURY (ON MEMORIES OF WINNING IN 2001.): ”It was a pretty cool deal. Dale Sr. had died in February, and we had worked really hard on that car all spring. We pretty much went into that race determined to win. There was a lot of pressure on us to make that car perform. Dale Jr. went down to Daytona a week earlier to be with his buddies. He wanted to make sure everything was right. He wanted to have his head in the right spot. So there was a lot of determination with that race team when we pulled in there. Just to be able to win and conquer something that you had your mind set on doing, it was a dream come true. I don’t think we could have wrote it any better. It was pretty much a storybook deal.
“You think about it all the time. That was a very special win. We all lost something that day in February (2001) down in Daytona. We look at it as every time we go back to Daytona, we’re proving something again—we’re doing it for Big E (Dale Earnhardt Sr.). It’s a pretty special place for both of us. It’s understood when we go to Daytona, we mean business and we do it in respect for Big E. I enjoy going there. You get a lot of memories when you walk in that place—good times and bad times, but we like to remember the good times.”
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