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NO. 88 AMP ENERGY / NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET
DALE EARNHARDT JR. - POST RACE RECAP
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POST-RACE RECAP / RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
DATE: Sept. 7, 2008
RACE: Chevy Rock and Roll 400
START: 4th
FINISH: 4th
POINTS POSITION: 4th (new Chase seeds)
RECAPPING THE RACE:
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard team brought home a fourth place finish during the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway on Sunday.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event originally was scheduled for Saturday night, but was postponed because of potentially inclement weather from Tropical Storm Hanna. The Sprint Cup field was able to practice on Friday afternoon, but with bad weather on the radar, ultimately the decision was made to halt all track activity. The field was set according to points.
Starting fourth, Earnhardt was strong from the drop of the green flag. He moved up into the second position by the first caution flag on Lap 35. As the race progressed, he reported that the car was tight in the center and loose off, but the team didn’t make any changes during the first pit stop. The No. 88 Chevy was stronger on longer runs, and by Lap 81, Earnhardt passed Denny Hamlin for the lead. A pit stop on Lap 97 gave the team another opportunity to work on the car. The team kept the lead while leaving pit road, and during the next 40 laps, Earnhardt battled with Kevin Harvick for the lead. Earnhardt maintained the top spot until Lap 187.
At the halfway point of the race, Earnhardt told crew chief Tony Eury Jr. that the car had a chatter in the right front tire. He said the car was too loose, and he was having a hard time driving it. Earnhardt continued to work with the car, but feared he might have flat-spotted the tires after an incident on Lap 212 when he made contact with Kyle Busch. Earnhardt, who took the lead at that point, reported that he locked up the brakes. He continued on, but dropped to third place during the next run.
The car's handling diminished during the next run, and Earnhardt fell to seventh. He told Eury to put the car back to where it was at the beginning of the race. The team pitted on Lap 297, and the small air pressure adjustments were put back into the tires.
With 25 to go, Earnhardt was third. He fell to fourth in the final 10 laps, but scored his eighth top-five finish of the season and led 90 laps. The driver of the No. 88 is now fourth in the Chase to the Sprint Cup heading into the final 10 races of the season.
NEXT UP: The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will head to New Hampshire Motor Speedway next weekend. The race will air on ABC at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday.
QUOTING DALE EARNHARDT JR.:
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 AMP ENERGY / NATIONAL GUARD IMPALA SS – (ON WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE WITH KYLE BUSCH BATTLING FOR THE LEAD.): "He was leading, he had a pretty good car. I was running real good on that restart, driving in on him real hard. Got in too hard into (Turn) 1 and locked the left front up and pushed in to him and wrecked him. I could say something real smart aleck but I won't. It was an accident. Those things seem to happen. Not on purpose."
"When I locked the left front up, at that point I got it slowed down as much as I could. I was going to go in there on top because I couldn't run the bottom. He was running real hard out on the top and trying to keep the lead. I was going to try and move up and get next to him and free my car up a little bit. We kind of came down in there, and he turned in there a little sharper. I locked the left front up and that was that."
EARNHARDT (ON HIS RICHMOND CAR AND HEADING INTO THE CHASE.): "We had a real good car. My guys worked hard. Start of the race, we were one of the best cars. We weren't making any adjustments every time we had a pit stop but we were losing the racetrack a little bit and getting tight. We just didn't figure out what we needed to do at the end there to have a car to win the race. I was really happy with how things went and getting a top-five -- we ain't had one in a while."
EARNHARDT (ON IF HE THINKS HIS TEAM IS READY FOR A CHAMPIONSHIP RUN.): "I feel pretty confident. We came here and ran like we should, like we expected to. We ran like we expected to in the summer. I don't think my guys did, but I did. I think they expected a little more. I feel pretty good."
Photos courtesy of Hendrick Motorsports
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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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