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DALE EARNHARDT JR. NO. 88 MOUNTAIN DEW/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET POST-RACE RECAP/DARLINGTON RACEWAY DATE: May 9, 2009 RACE: Southern 500 presented by GoDaddy.com START: 26th FINISH: 27th POINTS POSITION: 18th RECAPPING THE RACE: Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s hopes for a solid finish in Saturday's Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, were dashed when his No. 88 Mountain Dew/National Guard Chevrolet, sustained damage during a late-race spin on the frontstretch. Despite the 27th-place finish, Earnhardt maintains his 18th-place position in the driver standings, 89 points behind 12th-place Carl Edwards. The Kannapolis, N.C., native lined up 26th for Saturday's 367-lap event and started climbing through the field after the green flag dropped. By Lap 23, he had cracked the top 20, but he notified crew chief Tony Eury Jr. that his No. 88 Chevy was experiencing a tight-handling condition. The evening's third caution flag was displayed on Lap 31 with Earnhardt running in 29th and still battling an ill-handling machine. Eury called his driver to pit road for four fresh Goodyear tires, fuel and a pair of chassis adjustments to free up the handling. Eury and Earnhardt continued to fine-tune the handling on the black-and-green Chevy, which was running as high as 13th on Lap 124. However, the handling issue persisted, and Earnhardt slipped back as far as the 21st position on Lap 194. Eury continued to work with his driver to get the car dialed in with a handful of adjustments. As the laps were winding down, Earnhardt was running 16th and poised for solid finish. But trouble occurred when he was exiting Turn 4 on Lap 344. Then, Earnhardt spun and made hard contact with the frontstretch wall. After bringing out the evening's final caution, the 34-year-old driver navigated his No. 88 Chevy down pit road to the attention of his crew. Quick work by the over-the-wall crew members kept their driver on the lead lap for the Lap 346 restart. Under green-flag conditions, the damaged sheet metal was causing significant tire rub, and Earnhardt was forced to make his way back down pit road for repairs. After running the closing laps at a safe and steady pace, Earnhardt crossed the finish line 27th. QUOTING DALE EARNHARDT JR.: EARNHARDT (ON SATURDAY'S RUN.): "It was a frustrating night for the Mountain Dew/National Guard team. We struggled with tight-handling conditions all night. I'm looking forward to the all-star race. It should be fun."  ***** Courtesy of Hendrick Motorsports. Media Relations | No. 88 AMP Energy / National Guard Racing ***** Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Official Site - www.dalejr.com |
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