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Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy team started out the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway in the 13th position. Early in the race, Earnhardt radioed to crew chief Tony Eury Jr. that the car was loose. The team chose to pit early after a caution came out on Lap 11. The No. 88 Chevrolet went back out onto the track in 28th position, but the fresh tires made the difference, and Earnhardt improved to ninth by the next caution on Lap 40. On Lap 41, the team pitted again because the car was loose. Eury called for a track bar adjustment and four tires. Thanks to a solid stop by his crew, Earnhardt picked up two positions and restarted the race in the seventh position. Earnhardt drove up to second place by Lap 113 and was just about to pit under green when a caution flag flew. The team pitted and went back out second behind the No. 48 of teammate Jimmie Johnson. A battle for the lead ensued between Johnson and Earnhardt. The No. 88 drew loud cheers from the crowd when Earnhardt took the lead on Lap 124. He led until lap 127, but then traded with Johnson and Mark Martin. The three sometimes passed each other three-wide on the one-mile track. Earnhardt was running in second place when polesitter Ryan Newman suffered an engine failure and started leaking oil on the track. NASCAR red-flagged the event on Lap 135 for a short period of time to clean up. When the race resumed, Earnhardt pitted on Lap 137. Four cars stayed on the track so Earnhardt lined up in seventh place. On Lap 148 Earnhardt again took the lead and radioed to Eury and the team that the car was a little tight but was incredibly good.
"Good finish, I'm proud, happy. Week off - yeah!. But it was like someone flipped a switch there at the end, and the tires were gone so we sort of lost a little bit there. But I am proud of my guys. Tony Jr called for great adjustments. We got another solid finish, and Hendrick comes home with a win, so I'm pretty happy. Just ready to recharge our batteries - we've got a lot of racing to go." ON HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS GETTING ITS FIRST WIN IN A POINTS EVENT: "First off I have to congratulate Jimmie. He had such a super car. We used some of the things they were liking about their setup. We used it (Friday) afternoon (in practice). That helped our car a lot. A lot of good information going back and forth. I hope Rick (Hendrick) is happy about the win. I am happy about it. I am glad that we got one. That usually means there is a lot more to come. I am so proud of my team. My guys had some great pit stops. We beat some guys off pit road and got to lead some laps." NOTABLE: Dale Earnhardt Jr. led three times for a total of 87 laps. NEXT UP: The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will take a weekend off before heading to Talladega on April 27th.  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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