|
|
 |
 |
VENUE: ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY (1.54-MILE OVAL) CIRCUIT: NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES (RACE 4 OF 36) DATE: MARCH 9, 2008 (325 LAPS, 500 MILES) ***** AT ATLANTA: Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be making his 18th start in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday. In 17 races, Earnhardt has recorded one victory, one pole position, seven top-five finishes and nine top-10s. His win was March 14, 2004, when he started in the seventh position, and his pole was Nov. 18, 2001, when he finished seventh. TOP-10 AGAIN: Earnhardt used last week's second-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to jump 13 positions in the driver standings. The No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevy driver has moved up from the 23rd spot to 10th and is back in the top-10 for the second time this season. Earnhardt was 28th in points after three races last season. ATLANTA CHASSIS: Tony Eury Jr. and the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard team will use Chassis No. 88-483, which is the car that Earnhardt tested in October at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The 2007 test was Earnhardt's first official outing with Hendrick Motorsports after signing with the team in June. LOCAL TIES: Racing in Atlanta has special meaning for Chris Golder, the shock specialist for the No. 88 Chevrolet. The 27-year-old was born in Alpharetta, Ga., a town roughly 35 minutes north of Atlanta. After graduating from high school in 1999, he raced in a pro-truck series at Lanier National Speedway in nearby Braselton, Ga. Golder went on to earn a degree in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech and has worked at Hendrick Motorsports since June 2004. ATLANTA STRENGTH: Car owner Rick Hendrick has 10 victories, two pole positions, 42 top-five finishes and 65 top-10s in Sprint Cup competition at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It is one of eight race tracks where Hendrick has accumulated double-digit wins. 16 RACES. AND COUNTING: You have to go back to last century to find the last time Hendrick Motorsports failed to record a top-10 finish at Atlanta. It was Nov. 21, 1999, and Hendrick was then a three-car team with drivers Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte and Wally Dallenbach Jr. That's a streak of 16 consecutive races with a top-10 result at the Hampton, Ga., track. SO FAR, SO GOOD: In 2008, Hendrick Motorsports teams have won the Budweiser Shootout, the Daytona 500 pole position and a Gatorade Duel qualifying race at Daytona. The team has posted at least one top-10 finish in each 2008 points-paying and exhibition event, including runner-up efforts in the last two Sprint Cup Series points races. TOP-10 STREAK: Hendrick Motorsports teams have posted at least one top-10 finish in 68 consecutive Sprint Cup Series races dating back to April 9, 2006. Finishing 11th, Jimmie Johnson was Hendrick's top performer that day at Texas Motor Speedway. DOUBLE DUTY: For the third time this season, Earnhardt will run in both the NASCAR Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup Series events on the same weekend. In two Nationwide Series races at Atlanta Motor Speedway, he has recorded two top-five finishes. Saturday will mark Earnhardt's 100th Nationwide Series start. GOING GREEN: AMP Energy wants to see how fans of Dale Earnhardt Jr. are "going green" this season. Fans can win a chance to go to the AMP Energy 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in October and meet Earnhardt by showing AMP Energy how JR Nation is going green. Log onto www.AMPEnergy.com for more information or to submit photos or videos. ***** DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER OF THE NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON RUNNING AT ATLANTA.): "My Daddy always ran good there, so I focused on that fact. He always ran well. You could always count on him running up front at Atlanta. I think I liked the track before I ever raced on it. I assumed I would appreciate it and would like driving on it -- and I do. Plus Tony (Eury) Jr.'s style of setting up a car fits that track good. It has helped me a lot." EARNHARDT: (ON ATLANTA BEING CLOSE TO HOME.): "Atlanta's real close to home. It's a fun weekend for me as a driver. It's a great track, in a great area. I like how isolated it is -- just far enough out of the big city. For me, it's just one of the easier weekends to deal with." TONY EURY JR., CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON RACING IN ATLANTA.): "Dale has been successful in Atlanta, however I don't think we will have anywhere near the tire issues we had last week in Vegas. Atlanta is a rough, rough track and it will be similar to Darlington (S.C) Raceway, where every chance you get you're going to have to pit for fresh tires. The weather is supposed to be cold, so we'll see how that is going to affect things." EURY (ON A GOOD RUN AT VEGAS.): "That was a great day for us after what happened in California. We needed a boost like that. Junior wanted to win that thing so bad for all of us, but we'll take it when we can move up like that (in points). It was a good day." ***** Thanks to Amy Walsh for the race recap. Courtesy of Hendrick Motorsports. Media Relations | No. 88 AMP Energy / National Guard Racing  |
|
| NASCAR® is a registered trademark of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. This web site is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NASCAR®. The official NASCAR® site is "NASCAR® Online" and is located at www.nascar.com |
