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Dale Earnhardt Jr. started third in the 50th running of the Daytona 500. During the first run Earnhardt said the car was sliding on the left front. By Lap 19, he was running in the second position. Although the race stayed green through the first fuel run, teams up and down pit road were experiencing tire problems. Crew chief Tony Eury Jr. called Earnhardt to the No. 88 pits on Lap 37 under green. Earnhardt came to pit road while running third behind teammate Jeff Gordon. The pit crew made a four-tire stop, took some wedge out and packed the Chevy with fuel. When the field cycled around, Earnhardt was running fourth. His right front and rear tires were showing the cords. On Lap 41, Earnhardt radioed to Eury that he felt a big vibration and cautioned the team to ensure all the lug nuts were tight. Laps later, the vibration went away, and he was running fourth, but complained the car was now too tight. On Lap 73, the team pitted again, this time making a track bar adjustment and changing four tires. Earnhardt was running fourth at the time, but radioed to his crew that the shifter knob inside the car had broke. The team scrambled to help, and the No. 88 pitted again on Lap 80 for more tires and adjustments.
The team pitted for the final time on Lap 152. Eury told Earnhardt to conserve fuel, but late race cautions helped the team stretch the fuel mileage. The No. 88 took the lead on Lap 162 and stayed in the top-three, vying for position. As the race neared its end, Earnhardts Hendrick Motorsports teammates and drafting partners fell victim to on-track accidents. In the final three laps, the No. 88 restarted the Daytona 500 in the sixth position. Earnhardt attempted to make a move for the lead, but was shuffled back in the draft. He finished the race in the ninth position and is now eighth in points heading into the second Sprint Cup event of the year at California Speedway. QUOTING EARNHARDT: I can't really remember the last few laps. I was just kind of stuck. The guys on the outside made great moves to get there. Ryan (Newman) and those guys did exactly what they needed to do to win. They made some good choices at the end, and that is the difference between where we finished and where they finished. We had a pretty good car. The best car didn't win the race. The No. 18 was the strongest car of the day all day, but I know those guys are probably frustrated. I tried to help him, help Tony there at the end. That is just who I ended up behind, and I couldn't do much. I don't know. We were just kind of in a box there at the end. We couldn't make any more moves than we were making, and the ones I was making weren't doing any good. I was getting kind of frustrated. "But, we are happy with ninth, just take that, try and build on it and have a good rest of the season. It was touch and go there at the end, I am just glad we got our car home in one piece. NOTABLE: - Earnhardt led three times for 12 laps. - The No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevy Impala was in the top-10 for 185 of the 200 laps. NEXT UP: The No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevy next will compete at California Speedway on Sunday, February 24. The race will air live on FOX at 3:30 p.m., ET. 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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