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NO. 88 AMP ENERGY / NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET
DALE EARNHARDT JR. - POST RACE RECAP
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POST-RACE RECAP / INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
DATE: July 27, 2008
RACE: Allstate 400
START: 11th
FINISH: 12th
POINTS POSITION: 2nd
RECAPPING THE RACE:
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy team had a tiresome day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday. After starting 11th at the prestigious Brickyard, Earnhardt persevered a long, hot race and finished 12th behind teammate and two time race winner Jimmie Johnson.
Earnhardt was fast all weekend during qualifying session practices. Unfortunately, the short qualifying runs prevented the teams from fully experiencing how the new Goodyear tires would fare during longer stretches. They realized there might be a tire issue in Saturday's practices and within the first seven laps of Sunday’s 400-mile event, teams noticed the tires were showing cords. NASCAR and Goodyear officials decided the tire wear issue could present a safety issue so they decided to utilize "competition cautions" as necessary. During the 160-lap event, there were 11 cautions for 52 laps -- six of those were competition cautions ordered by NASCAR.
Earnhardt pitted during the first caution flag on Lap 7 for four tires and fuel. On the second caution he stayed on the track and took the lead. He led eight laps before he had a right rear tire go down on Lap 26. The team pitted under green-flag conditions, and Earnhardt lost a lap, falling to 37th. During the next three cautions, Earnhardt battled to get his lap back. On Lap 62 and during the fifth caution, he secured the "Lucky Dog."
From there, each time the caution flag flew, the No. 88 Chevy stopped for four tires and fuel. Earnhardt said the car was tightening up as the day wore on and noticed the track was getting cooler from overhead clouds. He passed eight cars in 10 laps and continued his forward charge, passing five to eight cars per run. Finally, Earnhardt was in the sixth position with a little more than 30 laps to go.
There were two more cautions, and as more rubber filled in the grooves on the track, tire wear decreased. Teams started rolling the dice with two-tire or four-tire stops. Crew chief Tony Eury Jr. and Earnhardt debated whether or not the team should take two or four tires, mainly to gain track position. They agreed to continue with the four-tire stops, and then on the last stop take two tires. Earnhardt had trouble getting around the No. 16 car in the pits, and with many teams taking two tires he was shuffled back to 13th on the restart. He made his way back to 12th but was disappointed with the finish because he felt the car was top-five worthy.
Earnhardt remains second in the driver standings after 20 races, with six remaining before the Chase to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.
NEXT UP: The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will head back to Pocono Raceway next weekend for the Pennsylvania 500 which airs on ESPN at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, Aug. 3.
QUOTING DALE EARNHARDT JR.:
ABOUT TODAY'S RACE: "That was the most bizarre race I have ever run. It was bizarre. I have never seen anything like it. I was glad we got finished with relatively no true chaos. NASCAR did what they had to do."
WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT THE TIRE SITUATION? "I like what NASCAR did. It is the only thing they could have done. The tires wouldn't last, and that is the only way we could have put on a show today. I am ashamed but there wasn't much we couldn't do, besides load them up and not run at all, that was the best we could do today. I feel bad for NASCAR, they are going to take a lot for this, and they certainly don't deserve it."
YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT THE FANS TODAY. "Some of them will brag about seeing it in person. Twenty-five, 30 years from now. They can call it whatever they want, I thought it was kind of fun, 10 lap sprints -- I thought it was kind of fun actually."
WAS IT NERVE-WRACKING IN THE CAR? "It was less work. Really less nerve-wracking. You just couldn't run hard. You just couldn't run hard, you had to pace yourself and try not to blow your tire out. I liked it. It was less work, like running little heat races with new tires every 10 laps -- that was great. The whole truth of the matter is, that was the best show we could put on today. NASCAR did everything right. It was all we could do aside from loading up and going home not running at all. It wasn't quite the race everyone expected, but shoot maybe it was better than some races you have seen here, you know. There was a lot more passing and carrying on."
HOW WAS YOUR CAR? "Well, I would have like to have got my lap back sooner so I could work on getting back through the pack after the flat tire. We were running out of time to get back through the back. The car was really, really good through the middle part of the race. We made some changes in light of the tire situation that hurt the car especially in traffic. We should have left it alone. The track got better later in the day, the shade came in the front straightaway, you could keep the right sides in the shade on the front straightaway to cool the tires down a little bit."
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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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