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NO. 88 AMP ENERGY / NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET
DALE EARNHARDT JR. - POST RACE RECAP
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DATE: 3/16/2008
RACE: FOOD CITY 500
TRACK: BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
START: 15th (set by 2007 owner standings)
FINISH: 5th
POINTS POSITION: 5th
For the second weekend in a row, threatening weather affected NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition, this time at Bristol Motor Speedway. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy team graced the top-10 on the speed charts during last Friday's rain-shortened practice sessions. Once again, the qualifying order was set according to the 2007 owner standings. Earnhardt started from the 15th position.
Once the race started, Earnhardt said the car was a handful. He said the Chevy was really tight in the center of the corner. On the first pit stop, the team made a major chassis adjustment by moving the track bar up and making an air pressure adjustment. Earnhardt fell out of the top 20 in the running order after a miscue on a pit stop on Lap 100. He had to battle back from 26th position with spotter T.J. Majors helping him get through traffic. During the course of a fuel run, Earnhardt reported the car seemed to handle better. The team, led by crew chief Tony Eury Jr., didn't give up, as it continued to adjust the chassis. By Lap 250, Earnhardt was back in the top 15.
The No. 88 broke into the top 10 on Lap 286, and from there Earnhardt began to pick off positions one by one. He said the car was better on the long runs. In the closing laps, Earnhardt had clawed his way into the fourth position. A caution with nine laps to go forced the team to make a decision - to pit or not to pit?
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Photo courtesy of Hendrick Motorsports
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Unfortunately radio communications did not go through, and Earnhardt did not receive Eury's message to pit for two tires. They apologized for the miscommunication, and the race resumed with six laps to go. Another caution forced a green-white checkered flag finish, and Earnhardt held on to finish fifth. He praised his crew and crew chief for hanging in there with him throughout the entire race.
QUOTING DALE EARNHARDT JR.: "Well we needed to start the race a little bit better than we did. We worked really hard today. I am pretty proud of my team. We had a pretty good car. To start where we did; work as hard as we did, and to not get tires there at the end to try and win the race, I am a little disappointed. But I have to give it to Tony, Jr. (Eury) and guys for working so hard and dialing this car in. I give those guys a lot of credit. They built me a good race car, and I am real proud to drive it."
NOTABLE: Earnhardt is now fifth in the driver standings.
NEXT UP: Sprint Cup is off next weekend. The circuit will return to Martinsville Speedway on March 30th.
Thanks to Amy Walsh for the race recap.
Courtesy of Hendrick Motorsports.
Media Relations | No. 88 AMP Energy / National Guard Racing
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