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NO. 88 AMP ENERGY / NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET
DALE EARNHARDT JR. - POST RACE RECAP
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POST-RACE RECAP / DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
DATE: July 5, 2008
RACE: Daytona 400
START: 3rd
FINISH: 8th
POINTS POSITION: 2nd
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Photo courtesy of Hendrick Motorsports
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RECAPPING THE RACE:
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet team led a race-high 51 laps en route to capturing an eighth-place finish in the 400-mile event at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway on Saturday evening. With his 12th top-10 finish of the season, Earnhardt moves into second place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship standings.
Earnhardt, who has 12 wins at the restrictor-plate track, looked strong early, qualifying third for the impound-race event. His No. 88 Chevy stayed strong, and Earnhardt took the lead within the first 19 laps of the race. But one lap later, the caution flag was waved when the No. 84 car blew a tire. Earnhardt made a pit stop, but brought the No. 88 Chevy too close to the wall, delaying the stop. Earnhardt lost 15 positions on pit road but encouraged the crew members to shake it off -- they had a long race ahead together.
The race restarted on Lap 24 and by Lap 37, it was the No. 88 car leading the way once again.
On Lap 45, Ryan Newman spun his No. 12 car on the backstretch, and Earnhardt made his second stop of the night. Earnhardt said the No. 88 Chevy was perfect and the team members made no changes, sending their driver back out onto the race track in second.
Earnhardt took the lead away from the No. 18 car of Kyle Busch on Lap 54 with the assistance of Mark Martin in the No. 8 Chevy. Earnhardt led through another pit stop cycle and maintained that the car was good and didn't need any chassis adjustments.
During the next 20 laps, Hendrick teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson moved into the top three. Earnhardt helped keep them in the front by drafting with them.
The final pit stop came on Lap 125, and although two teams took two tires, beating the No. 88 out of the pits, Earnhardt regained the lead on Lap 129. In the sprint to the end of the race, it got very dicey on the track. Drafting partners were hard to come by and accidents claimed teammates Casey Mears and Jimmie Johnson.
Earnhardt was 11th on the final restart carrying the event into overtime. He dodged a huge wreck on the final lap and finished eighth, crediting Mark Martin again for helping push him through the chaos. Earnhardt led 51 laps and logged his 12th top-10 finish of the season, passing Jeff Burton for the second position in the point standings as well.
NEXT UP: The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will race at Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday evening. Race coverage will be carried by TNT beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET and MRN at 8 p.m.
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Photo courtesy of Hendrick Motorsports
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QUOTING DALE EARNHARDT JR.:
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD / AMP ENERGY IMPALA SS (ON THE FINAL LAPS.): "Yeah, those last several laps it was rough out there. And we tried to do the best we could. Jeff (Gordon) got a great run on me and went to the outside and got the lead doing what he can to win the race. That's what you got to do. I hate feeling obligated to my teammates, too, so I don't blame him. He had a good enough run to where I don't blame him for going for that. But it shuffled us back a little bit, and we tried to work our way back up to the front."
"The bottom wasn't where I wanted to be so I was trying to get back to the top, and we was getting turned into everybody and wrecked and it bent something in the front end. On the back straightaway Clint Bowyer turned me into the No. 29 (Kevin Harvick) real hard and it bent the front end. The steering wheel went off-center, and I was just trying to hang on from there. I thought it was going to be okay. We got it back to the top and were about fourth in line and I guess the race was over with."
EARNHARDT (ON DOING HIS BEST TO AVOID LATE-RACE MISHAPS.): "Yeah, well, I was happy to be able to save it a couple of times because we should't have, and I don't think a normal man would have saved it (laughs). But I was lucky on a couple, too. But I was real happy to come home where we were. Those last few laps I saw so much ignorance and just saw some real risk-takers out there. Some of it was ignorance even though it was still amazing to watch. And we kind of got beat around there and didn’t get a top five. We should have finished in the top five today. We should have won, you know; had the best car. But there at the end though, man, I didn't want to be racing with any of those guys out there I was around (LAUGHS)."
EARNHARDT (ON HIS PERFORMANCE.): "Thanks to the Guard and AMP and all our supporters for bringing us here this weekend and giving us an opportunity. We've got to better capitalize on these types of wins at these types of races than we have been. I haven't done what I think I should be able to do on plate tracks. I've been given great equipment and I've just been not making the right decisions at the end. I need to change my mentality or something going into those last 20 laps or something and just have a little luck."
Photo courtesy of Hendrick Motorsports
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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