POCONO STATS: In 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Pocono Raceway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has recorded five top-five finishes and six top-10s. He has led 97 laps and completed 96 percent of all laps run (3,153 of 3,285). Earnhardt scored his only pole position at the track in August 2007 when he also repeated his best finish—second. His other runner-up performance occurred July 2001.
THIS SEASON: Earnhardt, driver of the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet, has spent the last 13 races ranked third or better in the Sprint Cup driver standings. For the last three weeks, he has held steady at second. This season, the Kannapolis, N.C., native has recorded seven top-five finishes, 12 top-10s and one pole position in 20 races.
ON POINT: Thanks in large part to his efficient No. 88 crew, Earnhardt has run to the finish of every Sprint Cup race in 2008, making him the only driver among the top eight in the championship standings to do so. He has finished 20th or better in 17 of 20 races this season.
FOLLOW THE LEADER: Earnhardt has led at least one lap in 14 of the 20 Sprint Cup Series events this season. Last week, Earnhardt led once for eight laps before finishing 12th at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
POCONO CHASSIS: Crew chief Tony Eury Jr. and the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard team engineers have chosen Chassis No. 88-498 for Pocono. This is the same chassis the team took to Pocono in June when Earnhardt finished fourth.
HENDRICK TOP 10: In 49 races at Pocono Raceway, Hendrick Motorsports has recorded at least one top-10 finish in all but four events. Overall, Hendrick drivers have combined for 11 wins, 46 top-five finishes and 78 top-10s at the track.
HENDRICK RECORDS 170TH WIN: Rick Hendrick recorded his 170th Sprint Cup victory when Jimmie Johnson took the checkered flag on Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Hendrick’s wins, which started in April 1984 with driver Geoffrey Bodine at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, rank him first among car owners in NASCAR’s modern era (1972-present) and second all-time.
STREAK INTACT: Hendrick Motorsports’ streak of top-10 finishes improved to 85 Sprint Cup races when Johnson went to Victory Lane and Jeff Gordon took fifth in Sunday’s event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The last time a Hendrick driver wasn’t in the top 10 was April 9, 2006. Finishing 11th, Johnson was Hendrick’s top performer that day at Texas Motor Speedway.
LIMITED-EDITION AMP CANS: AMP Energy is introducing its “Dale Jr. Limited Edition Series” cans this summer. There are four cans to collect. One will pay tribute to his five wins at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, while the other three will feature his No. 88 Chevrolet Impala SS, the stripes from his adidas firesuit and the JR Nation logo.
DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER OF THE NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD IMPALA SS (ON POCONO.):
“I hope this race at Pocono is better than the last one. It was pretty boring, but we got a good finish out of it. Hopefully it won’t be so hot up there this time. It was real, real hot last time.”
TONY EURY JR., CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD IMPALA SS (ON WHAT THE TEAM LEARNED FROM ITS LAST TRIP TO POCONO.):
“Pocono is pretty tough on us, just as far as just the pit strategy side of it. I think we were very loose off all day. We’re going to correct that. I think we have a good handle on what went on there. The biggest thing is track position means so much there. You have to be able to do the two tires and have the car still run well. That’s probably been our biggest downfall. Our car doesn’t seem to like two tires as much as it likes four. We’re really going to have to be smart about that and make sure we keep our track position all day. The biggest thing is we just need to tighten the car up and keep track position all day.”
EURY (ON HOW HE WOULD GRADE THE TEAM AT THIS POINT IN THE SEASON.):
“I’d definitely give us an A. I think there are some things we could have done a little better but overall, being a new team and all these guys being together and the chemistry and stuff we’ve blended up this year; to be sitting this high in the points, you’ve got to give them an A. They’ve done a great job. It would be really cool to get this championship but we’ll have to keep working hard.”
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