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DALE EARNHARDT JR. NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET POST-RACE RECAP/ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY DATE: Sept. 5, 2010 START: 25th FINISH: 22nd POINTS POSITION: 19th RECAPPING THE RACE: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet, worked with a loose-handling car en route to finishing 22nd in Sunday night's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Earnhardt lined up 25th for the night race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday and was quick to make his move during the long opening green-flag segment. He noted that the handling of the blue-and-white Chevrolet was loose in and out of the corners. A round of green-flag pit stops began on Lap 44, and Earnhardt had advanced to the 18th position. On Lap 48, crew chief Lance McGrew called his driver to pit road for four fresh Goodyear tires and an extra splash of fuel. The team also made an air pressure adjustment to ease the loose-handling condition. When the field cycled through green-flag stops on Lap 53, Earnhardt was shown 17th on the scoring pylon. During the early course of the race, Earnhardt and his team continued to fine-tune the No. 88 Chevrolet to ease the loose-handling condition. Earnhardt cracked the top 10 on Lap 167 and held his footing inside the Top 15 during the middle stages of the race. The sixth caution flag of the night waved on Lap 265 with Earnhardt running 10th. The caution period provided McGrew and the team the opportunity to tighten the handling that continued to plague the No. 88 team. Earnhardt made his way down pit road for wholesale changes. The team quickly gave the Chevy four fresh tires and fuel, while making an air pressure and chassis adjustments. The No. 88 was 10th fastest off of pit road. Two cars opted not to pit during the caution period, and Earnhardt restarted 12th for the Lap 275 restart. As track temperature cooled, Earnhardt radioed that the handling continued to get looser. He battled the handling during the closing laps and crossed the finish line 22nd. ***** 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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