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DALE EARNHARDT JR. NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/ NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET POST-RACE RECAP / MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY DATE: March 29, 2009 RACE: Goody’s Fast Relief 500 START: 19th FINISH: Eighth POINTS POSITION: 16th RECAPPING THE RACE: Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard racing team scored a season-best eighth-place finish in Sunday's Goody's Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. Earnhardt picked up his second top-10 finish of the season and continued his climb in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship standings. He improved three positions to 16th and trails 12th-place Matt Kenseth by 44 points. Earnhardt was given the 19th-place starting spot for Sunday's race after NASCAR officials canceled Friday's qualifying session due to weather. A steady rain settled in over the half-mile oval on Friday morning and plagued the sixth stop of the season until Saturday evening. As a result, practice time was limited and the field was set according to the car owner standings. During the opening laps on Sunday, Earnhardt noted that his green and white Chevrolet was tight in the center of the corner and on exit. By Lap 32, the 34-year-old driver had climbed to the 15th position, but radioed to crew chief Tony Eury Jr. that the shifter was popping out of gear. A competition caution flag waved on Lap 40, and Eury called his driver down pit road for four fresh tires and fuel. During the stop, the crew spent a little extra time fixing the wayward shifter. Back under green on Lap 47, Earnhardt was running 38th and started working his way through the field. By Lap 90, he was running 25th when the day's fourth caution flag waved. Eury told his driver to stay on track to gain valuable position. The field went back to green on Lap 96, and the No. 88 Chevy was running 13th. By Lap 107, Earnhardt had cracked the top 10, where he would remain for the rest of the 500-lap race. The AMP Energy/National Guard team continued to fine-tune the handling of the car, and by Lap 201, Earnhardt was sixth. He broke into the top three on Lap 264, but was holding steady in fifth 90 laps later. Eury called his driver to pit road for the final time under caution on Lap 430. During the stop, the crew bolted on four fresh Goodyear tires, gave the No. 88 Chevy fuel and made air pressure and chassis adjustments. Earnhardt went back to green on Lap 433, running seventh. A series of caution flags during the closing laps limited Earnhardt's ascent. He crossed the finish line eighth, behind of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson (first), Jeff Gordon (fourth) and Mark Martin (seventh). QUOTING DALE EARNHARDT JR.: EARNHARDT (ON SUNDAY'S RUN.): "It was an all right day. We didn't have as good a car as I wanted to have, but we worked on it all day and the guys stayed positive. Just right there at the end, we weren't as good as we needed to be."  ***** 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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