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DALE EARNHARDT JR. NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD "8 SOLDIERS 8 MISSIONS"/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET POST-RACE RECAP/DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY DATE: July 3, 2010 START: 13th FINISH: Fourth POINTS POSITION: 11th RECAPPING THE RACE: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 National Guard "8 Soldiers 8 Missions"/AMP Energy Chevrolet, avoided a series of pileups and scored a fourth-place finish in Saturday's 400-mile NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. Earnhardt picked up his second top-five finish of the season and continued his climb in the Sprint Cup championship standings. He improved two positions to 11th and is 46 points ahead of 13th place. Earnhardt was given the 13th-place starting spot for Saturday's race after NASCAR officials canceled Friday's qualifying session due to weather and the field was set according to the car owner standings. During the opening laps on Saturday, Earnhardt noted that his No. 88 Chevrolet was loose throughout the corners. Crew chief Lance McGrew used the first caution period on Lap 15 to fine-tune the handling of the camouflaged machine. The crew went to work, bolting on four fresh tires and making air pressure and chassis adjustments. Earnhardt went back to green-flag racing on Lap 19 scored in the 31st position. On Lap 30, Earnhardt radioed to his crew that the team had made too drastic of changes and the car was now suffering from a tight-handling condition. Green-flag pit stops began on Lap 55, and McGrew called his driver back down pit road for four fresh tires and a pair of chassis adjustments. Handling continued to be an issue that No. 88 team worked to address, but Earnhardt didn't stop making his way through the field. On Lap 136, he was scored 16th before a handful of pileups and caution periods plagued the final laps. The night's seventh caution flag was displayed on Lap 142 for a three-car incident in Turn 3. Earnhardt had minor contact with another driver but managed to make it through without injuring the No. 88 machine. The field went back to green-flag racing on Lap 145 with Earnhardt scored 15th on the scoring pylon. Three laps later, a massive pileup involving 19 cars brought racing to a halt. As the cars scattered throughout Turn 3, Earnhardt stayed at the bottom of the racetrack and managed to make his way through the melee unscathed. When the field went back to green-flag racing on Lap 152, Earnhardt was running eighth. The evening's final caution flag was displayed on lap 159, setting up a green-white-checkered flag finish. Earnhardt took the green flag running seventh and picked up three spots to cross the finish line fourth. QUOTING DALE EARNHARDT JR.: EARNHARDT (ON SUNDAY'S RUN.): "I want to thank Lance (McGrew, crew chief) and my team. They worked really hard. We thought after practice we had a good race car, but when the race started, we didn't. Lance and the guys worked really hard trying to make it better. We just missed a lot of wrecks and got lucky with the finish. We didn't have a car to compete tonight. I apologize to all the fans. I want to thank the National Guard, AMP Energy and all of our sponsors for their support. We'll try to do a better job next week. We don't want to get lucky every time." ***** 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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