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PREVIEW: DALE EARNHARDT JR. (NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET) VENUE: TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY (1.5-MILE TRI-OVAL) CIRCUIT: NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES (RACE 7 OF 36) DATE: APRIL 5, 2009 (334 LAPS, 501 MILES) ***** AT TEXAS: In 13 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Texas Motor Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has scored one win, three top-five finishes and seven top-10s. He has an average starting position of 8.3 and an average finish of 13.4 at the 1.5-mile track. He has led at least one lap in 10 of those starts for a total of 394 laps. He has completed 95.6 percent of all the laps he's attempted there (4,161 of 4,352). A YEAR AGO: Earnhardt, driver of the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet, earned the pole position during his outing at Texas Motor Speedway last April and led 31 laps before finishing 12th. ON THE MOVE: At Martinsville Speedway, Earnhardt picked up his second top-10 finish of the season and continued his climb in the Sprint Cup championship standings. With his eighth-place finish, Earnhardt improved three positions to 16th and trails 12th-place Matt Kenseth by 44 points. LUCKY LONE STAR STATE: Nine years ago, Earnhardt was just seven races into his rookie season when he recorded his first Cup Series race win. Then a 25-year-old rookie, Earnhardt started the race at Texas Motor Speedway in fourth and led 106 laps on his way to Victory Lane on April 2, 2000. Earnhardt also recorded his first win in the NASCAR Nationwide Series at Texas on April 4, 1998. DOUBLE DUTY: In addition to driving the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet this weekend, Earnhardt will drive JR Motorsports' No. 5 Chevrolet in the Nationwide Series. Most recently, Earnhardt, a 22-time race winner in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, finished seventh in the Nationwide race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In two previous Nationwide Series events this season, Earnhardt has an average finish of sixth. RUNNING UP FRONT: According to NASCAR's loop data statistics, Earnhardt leads all drivers for laps run in the top 15 at Texas. During the last eight races at the 1.5-mile oval, the Kannapolis, N.C., native has spent almost 83 percent of the event (2,223 laps of 2,682) running in the top 15. CHASSIS CHOICE: This weekend, crew chief Tony Eury Jr. and the No. 88 engineers will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88- 499. This is the same chassis Earnhardt drove at Auto Club Speedway in February and at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March. During the 500-mile event at the Fontana, Calif., racetrack, he climbed 27 positions through the field, but finished 39th after engine woes struck. The 34-year-old driver recorded an 11-place finish at the Hampton, Ga., track in March. HENDRICK AT TEXAS: Hendrick Motorsports, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, has two wins, 15 top-five finishes and 23 top-10s in 16 races at Texas Motor Speedway. Hendrick Motorsports has earned at least one top-five finish in 13 events and at least one top-10 finish in 15 races at the track. GUARD GARAGE: Diehard Earnhardt fans should visit www.DaleJrGuardGarage.com and sign up to become part of the Guard Garage fan club. Members will receive a fan club kit that includes No. 88 memorabilia and weekly access to behind-the-scenes videos of Earnhardt. Fans also will have the opportunity to win one-of-a-kind prizes, like one of Earnhardt's personal Polaris ATVs and a replica 3 Doors Down/Citizen-Soldier No. 88 hood autographed by the band and Earnhardt. 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 AMP Energy 500, which will be held in October at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. To play, fans should enter the code found on the bottom of their AMP Energy beverage can. Visit www.AMPEnergy.com for more information. ***** DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER OF THE NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD IMPALA SS (ON HIS FIRST CUP SERIES WIN AT TEXAS.): "It is your first win. When you first come into this sport and you don't have a win, the anticipation of when that is going to happen is building and building. You just wonder if it will and when it will. It's not something you expect to happen, so when it does it is such a surprise. You've never been in that situation before where you have won a race. To see how surprised everybody and your team gets and how excited they get just adds to it. It's hard to explain to people how that feels -- that first win and how it felt." EARNHARDT (ON THE KEYS TO GETTING AROUND TEXAS.): "Texas is tough -- trying to get the car to turn down into Turn 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. The cars get really tight there because the track changes so much throughout the weekend. The exit off of Turn 2 is a real, real tricky corner. It's a real strange exit for a mile-and-a-half racetrack. The track looks typical and looks normal from the single point of view but when you race around it and work around it it's got a lot of oddities that are different from most tracks and they are a challenge." EARNHARDT (ON THE TEAM'S INTERMEDIATE PROGRAM.): "It's pretty good. We've run some pretty competitive races at those tracks. I enjoy running at the bigger tracks because of the talent we have in our program and the talent we have in our company. We never show up lost and always have a good package when we get there, and the cars are pretty comfortable." EARNHARDT (ON GOALS FOR THE NEXT FEW WEEKS.): "I want to get us some top-five finishes and challenge for a win or two if not get a win. We don't have any top-fives yet, so I'd like to start stacking them up." TONY EURY JR., CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD IMPALA SS (ON THE FIRST CUP WIN.): "Texas has been a great place for us. We actually won our first Nationwide race with Dale Jr. at Texas. We won our first Cup race at Texas. Texas just kind of fits Dale Jr.'s driving style and Texas is a lot of fun for us. We look forward to going there. It's a real fast place. Just got a lot of memories there. It's just so big and the cowboys are from there. All that stuff mixed in -- it's got to be a great place." EURY (ON THE NO. 88 AT INTERMEDIATE TRACKS.): "We did really well last year. This year we've run all right, not great. You know Texas is one of those that stands out, and we're looking forward to getting down there. We had a pole down there, and we run really good there in the fall. We're looking forward to getting back to Texas and seeing what we've got." EURY (ON THE TRACK.): "The track is just now getting to where it needs to be. It's got some rough bumps down there in Turns 1 and 2 and a couple in (Turns) 3 and 4, but the biggest thing is the track is maturing to where it can get two grooves. Guys can run up high, and guys can run down low. There were several years at Texas where everybody had to run around the bottom, and it wasn't but one lane. Track's really coming on and getting its own characteristics now, which is a good deal" ***** 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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