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NO. 88 AMP ENERGY / NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET
DALE EARNHARDT JR. - POST RACE RECAP
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POST-RACE RECAP / AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY OF CALIFORNIA
DATE: Aug. 31, 2008
RACE: Pepsi 500
START: 18th
FINISH: 11th
POINTS POSITION: 4th
RECAPPING THE RACE:
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard team finished 11th in Sunday night's Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway of California, securing their spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Once the green flag dropped, Earnhardt quickly moved up from his 18th starting position. By the time the first caution was issued on Lap 3, Earnhardt already had gained five positions. He said the car was a little bit free, but acknowledged that the set-up most likely would change since the sun was going down. The No. 88 team decided against making a stop.
The team pitted on Lap 21 for the first time. The crew changed four tires, made an air pressure adjustment and filled the fuel tank. The pit stop was impressive as the No. 88 Chevrolet moved from eighth to fifth off of pit road. While the adjustment worked, the car still was too loose, and during the next run, the Chevy started to become tight in the center of the corners. Earnhardt had his hands full and fell to seventh after the No. 2 car spun, prompting another caution on Lap 43. The next pit stop was on Lap 44, and the team made and air pressure adjustment as well as a track bar adjustment. Earnhardt restarted on Lap 46 in fifth but soon fell back through the field. On Lap 67 he told crew chief Tony Eury Jr. the car was really loose in and off of the corners. He said the car wasn’t consistent. The team pitted on Lap 69 and reversed the track bar adjustment, sending Earnhardt back out on the track in 10th.
By Lap 100, Earnhardt said the car was extremely hard to drive and dropped to 16th. On Lap 147, the team added a spring rubber to the left rear spring. This adjustment seemed to work well for a while, but by Lap 177 he said the car was loose again.
The final pit stop on Lap 219 was for an air pressure adjustment and four tires. Earnhardt was in 12th on the restart and finished the night in 11th, behind race winner and teammate Jimmie Johnson.
NEXT UP: The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will head to Richmond (Va.) International Raceway next weekend. The race will air on ABC at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday night.
QUOTING DALE EARNHARDT JR.:
ON THE CHANGES THEY MADE TO THE CAR THROUGHOUT THE RACE:
"We didn't have forward bite off. When we were freeing the car up, it was rolling in the center better but getting worse off the corners. So we were gaining a little time in the center of the corner, but we really needed to get the car up off the corner better. We were looking at Jimmie's (Johnson) set-up and my set-up and we see some of the areas where his stuff could help ours. At least that's what I think. So, congratulations to Jimmie, and we're all in the Chase, so that's good. I got my Chase hat on, and I'm ready to go."
ON BEING LOCKED INTO THE CHASE:
"Yeah, we're going to take back our normal set-up that we ran there last time and try to improve on it. I feel really good about Richmond. We've had some great runs there. And I'm glad we made the Chase this year. A lot of people would have expected us to make it, but we didn't know when the season started. I want to thank everybody at Hendrick and all the employees that worked really hard to help us have a good enough year to make the Chase. We'll try to improve a little bit and win some more races before it's over with and battle hard for that championship."
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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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