Coke 400 Recap

Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 National Guard /Serving America/AMP Energy Chevrolet, was mounting a charge on the leaders during Saturday's race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway when he was caught up in a multi-car incident. Earnhardt finished 39th.

DALE EARNHARDT JR.
NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD /SERVING AMERICA/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET
POST-RACE RECAP / DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

DATE: July 4, 2009
RACE: Daytona 400
START: 19th
FINISH: 39th
POINTS POSITION: 21st


RECAPPING THE RACE:

Earnhardt lined up his camouflaged Chevy 19th for Saturday's race. NASCAR officials canceled Friday's qualifying session due to heavy rain showers, so the starting lineup was set according to the car owner standings.

After the green flag dropped, Earnhardt reported a tight-handling condition, which was causing the No. 88 Chevy to bounce on the right-front side. Interim crew chief Lance McGrew used the first caution period on Lap 14 to fine-tune the handling on the camouflaged No. 88 machine. The crew went to work, bolting on four fresh tires and making an air pressure adjustment. The team spent extra time on pit road removing a packer from the right-front shock. Earnhardt went back to green on Lap 17 scored in 31st position.

On Lap 50, Earnhardt radioed to his crew that the car still was suffering from a tight-handling condition. The evening's third caution flag was displayed five laps later, and McGrew called his driver back down pit road for four tires, an air pressure adjustment and a pair of chassis adjustments.

The field went back to green-flag racing on Lap 61, with Earnhardt running 25th. McGrew gave his driver exactly what he needed, and the 34-year-old driver began his forward charge. On Lap 71, Earnhardt had moved to the 14th position and had his sights on the leaders.

Trouble struck on Lap 76, with Earnhardt running 17th. A pile-up occurred on the backstretch, with cars spinning in front of the No. 88 Chevy. Earnhardt stayed on the high side but was collected in the incident when another competitor was turned directly in the No. 88 Chevy�s path. McGrew told his driver to bring the battered machine to the garage to assess the damage. With irreparable damage, Earnhardt and the team were forced to retire early and settle with a 39th-place finish.

QUOTING DALE EARNHARDT JR.:

"I just saw some guys getting together in front of me. The track's real slick. It's not wide enough for three-wide or two-wide racing sometimes; these cars are just sliding around and everybody had to be careful. I guess there were a couple of guys going for the same piece of real estate there, and I tried to stay high because I thought they would spin down off the wall and the No. 00 got crossed up trying to miss them, and we hit him. So the National Guard /Serving America/AMP Energy Chevrolet was just getting going. We had just freed the car up enough and were moving toward the front and the car was driving good. I thought we had a shot of getting up there and mixing it up with the leaders."