Posts Tagged “#88”

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

NASCAR’s most popular driver once again looks like one of NASCAR’s best drivers.

That’s a summation of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s 2008 season, with three weeks remaining. It’s also solace for the millions of fans who support the driver of the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet.

Earnhardt has fallen out of contention for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship, but from a big picture perspective, what’s important is that he was in contention to begin with. Earnhardt returned to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field this season, his first season with Hendrick Motorsports following his dramatic departure from Dale Earnhardt Inc.

Earnhardt comes into Texas 10th in the series standings He also comes in with a lasting memory: In 2000, as a rookie fresh off winning back-to-back championships in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, Earnhardt got his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory at Texas.

Afterward, he was joined in Victory Lane for an emotional celebration with his father, seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt.

“I feel pretty good about how we ran this year and how we have been able to be fast pretty much every week,” Earnhardt said last week at Atlanta, where he finished 11th. “I will just try to go in, do it again, do it better next year … I’m real confident in our ability to go out next year and make a better showing.”

Granted Dale Earnhardt Jr. has already had some issues this weekend at NASCAR’s largest track. On Friday he blew an engine in his primary car, after replacing that, his right rear tire exploded in practice, destroying the entire rear of his race car. Dale will have to race in his backup car, and start in the rear of the field, which at Talladega is not so bad.

The Earnhardt Factor: It Can’t be Overlooked
Talladega is the track where Dale Earnhardt Jr. has enjoyed his most success in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, with five victories. It’s obviously a good time for this week’s trip to the big track, as Earnhardt comes in eighth in the series points, 190 behind leader Jimmie Johnson.

Are the stars aligned for an Earnhardt victory? His team’s sponsor is also the race sponsor. And rest assured the usual pro-Earnhardt crowd will be in full vocal force at Talladega for the Amp Energy 500, knowing that Earnhardt’s championship chances need a serious boost.

 The Final Lap TALLADEGA - NEWS

Q: Dale, very big weekend coming up. A lot going on and off the racetrack. Tell us about that to open up.

DALE EARNHARDT JR.: This has been a good track for us. Always run good there. Got a lot of fans there. We’re going to have a special paint scheme with all the fans that signed into the promotional deal with Amp. All their names will be on the car, about 70,000 names. We’re pretty excited about that.

I don’t know, it’s just a good track. Look forward to it. It’s always a lot of fun. It’s a real easy weekend. It’s more of a mental race than a physical race. It’s not really who has the best car; it’s the guy who makes the best moves and makes the right decisions there at the end of the race.

Q. This is a track where it seems like anybody can win. During the Chase, you don’t see many non-Chase guys win. Can you imagine what it’s like for a non-Chase guy to win a race this time of year?

DALE EARNHARDT JR.: Yeah, I mean, it’s just like any other race, I guess, during the season, a win’s a win. They’re fun to celebrate. That’s really what you show up for, is to be able to go to Victory Lane, get that feeling, celebrate with your team.

I think if you haven’t made the Chase, that’s sure vindication I guess for the season and beyond. Gives you a lot of momentum going into the off-season, too, if you can get a win.

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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. visited Navy recruits in the Dale Jr. Division on Wednesday.

By Scott A. Thornbloom
Naval Service Training Command Public Affairs Office

NAVAL STATION GREAT LAKES – “It was a no brainer. Dale Jr. is my hero,” said a Navy recruit at Recruit Training Command (RTC) here Aug. 27, when asked by a reporter why he joined the Navy.

That was the general consensus of the more than 170 new recruits on just their third day of training when popular NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., made a pit stop at RTC to visit with his two newly commissioned “Dale Jr. Divisions” at the Navy’s only boot camp.

The Dale Jr. Division originally sought 88 recruits (enough to fill a division at RTC), but had a few more people enlist before the division was closed, allowing for a second division to be formed under Earnhardt Jr.’s name.

“The Navy came to me (four years ago) and offered to sponsor a car and help me achieve my goal of being an owner,” Earnhardt, owner of JR Motorsports, told his divisions during a question and answer
period in their barracks.

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Race Recap: Keselowski Wins Bristol NNS Race

By Reid Spencer, Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
 
BRISTOL, Tenn. (August 22, 2008) — One slip was all Brad Keselowski needed.



After a restart on Lap 226 of Friday night’s NASCAR Nationwide Series Food City 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway, Keselowski pressured points leader Clint Bowyer. On Lap 227, Bowyer slipped off Turn 2, giving Keselowski the opening he needed.
 
From that point, Keselowski kept the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet out front and beat Bowyer to the finish line by 1.025 seconds.



“We were dead equal — Clint and I,” said Keselowski, who won his second race in the series from the 37th starting position. “I knew I needed a break, and he gave it to me. All I can do is force him to run hard, and he made a mistake. I’m lucky.”
 


Greg Biffle finished third, followed by polesitter Cale Gale and David Stremme. Scott Wimmer was sixth, and a late pit road mistake — with No. 18 crew chief Jason Ratcliff serving the first race of his indefinite suspension for violations found last Saturday at Michigan — dropped Kyle Busch to seventh.



David Reutimann was eighth, followed by Brian Vickers and Steve Wallace.
 


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