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PREVIEW: DALE EARNHARDT JR. (NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET) VENUE: TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY (2.66-MILE TRI-OVAL) CIRCUIT: NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES (RACE 9 OF 36) DATE: APRIL 26, 2009 (188 LAPS, 500.08 MILES) ***** AT TALLADEGA: In 18 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has recorded five wins, seven top-five finishes and 10 top-10s. He scored four consecutive wins from October 2001 to April 2003 and is the only driver to have accomplished that feat at the 2.66-mile oval. POINTS POSITION: Earnhardt led twice for a total of 63 laps in Saturday night's race at Phoenix International Raceway, but slipped three spots in the driver standings after getting tangled up in a late-race incident and finishing 31st. Earnhardt ranks 19th and is 103 points behind 12th-place Matt Kenseth. WINNING WAYS: Earnhardt's five wins at Talladega are the most for him at any one track and rank him third all-time among drivers at the Alabama oval. Earnhardt's late father, Dale Earnhardt Sr., scored 10 wins there, while Earnhardt Jr.'s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon has recorded six. LEADING MAN: Earnhardt, driver of the No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet, has led laps in 16 of his 18 starts at Talladega. Of the 635 total laps that Earnhardt has led there, 143 have come during the last six events. SUPERSPEEDWAY STATS: In 37 Cup starts on the superspeedways of Daytona Beach, Fla., and Talladega, Earnhardt has recorded seven wins, 13 top-five finishes and 21 top-10s. He has a 14.4 average starting position and an average finish of 14.6. CHASSIS CHOICE: This weekend, crew chief Tony Eury Jr. and the No. 88 engineers will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-475. This is the same chassis Earnhardt ran at the Daytona 500 in February, when a steady rain curbed his charge to the front. Earnhardt finished 27th after NASCAR officials called the race on Lap 152. HENDRICK AT TALLADEGA: Hendrick Motorsports, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this season, has recorded at least one top-10 finish in the last eight events at Talladega. Overall, Hendrick Motorsports has scored 10 wins, 40 top-five finishes and 58 top-10s in 50 races at the superspeedway. THREE IN A ROW: Mark Martin's win last week at Phoenix International Raceway came on the heels of two other Hendrick Motorsports wins -- Jimmie Johnson at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway and Jeff Gordon at Texas Motor Speedway -- and marked the third time Hendrick Motorsports has won three consecutive Cup events with three different drivers. Hendrick, the only team in NASCAR's modern era to have three different drivers win in three straight races, accomplished the feat in 2007 -- with Johnson, Gordon and Casey Mears -- and in 1989 -- with Darrell Waltrip, Ken Schrader and Geoff Bodine. In 1956, Carl Kiekhaefer's drivers won three in a row twice. Buck Baker, Speedy Thompson and Herb Thomas contributed to the first streak, while Baker, Jack Smith and Thompson were part of the other. DOUBLE DUTY: In addition to driving the No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet this weekend, Earnhardt also will pilot JR Motorsports' No. 5 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. In six previous Nationwide starts at Talladega, Earnhardt has one win, two top-five finishes and four top-10s. Earnhardt, a 22-time Nationwide race winner, has competed in three series events thus far this season and has an average finish of 10.7. DRIVE THE GUARD: Earnhardt will drive a special No. 88 National Guard "Drive the Guard"/AMP Energy Chevrolet next weekend at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway. Get paid, get trained and get moving in the right direction with the National Guard. The "Drive the Guard" program was developed to assist National Guard applicants in obtaining full-time employment by assisting them in completing truck driving training at an approved school. Graduates will be guaranteed employment with a motor carrier related to the Commercial Vehicle Driver Training Foundation Inc. Qualified applicants will receive a pre-hire commitment at the time of application to the commercial driver training program (CDTFI). Participants can get their commercial driver's license, a monthly paycheck and a full-time job with a reputable trucking company while serving part-time in the National Guard, without the need to relocate. Visit www.cdtfi.org for more information. GET IN GEAR: AMP Energy is kicking off the first 10 weeks of the 2009 racing season by giving fans a chance to win unique Earnhardt merchandise and VIP trips to the Nov. 1 AMP Energy 500 at Talladega. To play, fans should visit www.AMPEnergy.com and enter the code found on the bottom of their AMP Energy beverage can. ***** DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER OF THE NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY IMPALA SS (ON WHY HE'S STRONG AT TALLADEGA.): "I go in with a real good attitude. When you go into something with a good attitude you normally get good results. Dad was real good at it. We always just put a little extra attention into those races and those race cars that we took to those tracks. We spent a little more time with them, and we just take it very, very seriously." EARNHARDT (ON AVOIDING THE "BIG ONE" AT TALLADEGA.): "I don't know. I guess you just try not to be around people that are wrecking. It's hard. I've been caught up in it, and it's really just a crapshoot -- like a lottery." EARNHARDT (ON RESPONDING TO THE "BIG ONE" AS IT'S HAPPENING.): "I think it's all instinct because so much is going on in front of you that you can't really take in what you are hearing. I couldn't tell you a thing my spotter is saying to me during a wreck." EARNHARDT (ON DRAFTING.): "It's definitely something you learn. You can watch it on television and gain a little bit of knowledge, but you have to get out there and make the mistakes and make things happen to understand them." EARNHARDT (ON HIS FOCUS ON POINTS AND THE CHASE FOR THE SPRINT CUP.): "I'm always thinking about 'em (points). I always watch them since the first race (of the season). You can start counting some people out of the Chase. Anybody who is 25th on back is going to have a hard time making it." TONY EURY JR., CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET (ON PATIENCE AT TALLADEGA.): "I think patience is a big part of being good at Talladega. Your driver needs to be able to hang out in the draft when he needs to but also needs to see when things are happening and make a move. Dale knows who he can work with, and that's a big part of it, too -- having the right people to draft with." EURY (ON HANDLING.): "Handling isn't as much of an issue at Talladega like it is at Daytona. There's not a whole lot you can do to the setup to make the car faster; it's mostly about drafting. Dale learned a lot about that from his daddy, but I think some of it is natural talent. He's smart about anticipating what's going on around him and good at putting himself where he needs to be at the end of the race. I'm looking forward to having a good run down there." MARSHALL CARLSON, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER OF HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS (ON EVALUATING HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AFTER EIGHT RACES.): "There's a lot of cohesiveness. We send a quote out every week to our employees, and the one this past Monday was, 'Where there is unity, there is always victory,' and it comes from a Roman author from sometime B.C. That really speaks to (team owner) Rick's (Hendrick) philosophy that he's been building here for years and years, and I can't, at least since I've been here, remember a time when there's been more unity among the entire company than right now. That's an exciting thing to see come together, and I think the guys are really proud of it. And it's showing on the track." ***** 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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