Dale Jr Brickyard Preview

PREVIEW: DALE EARNHARDT JR. (NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET)
VENUE: INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY (2.5-MILE OVAL)
CIRCUIT: NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES (RACE 20 OF 36)
DATE: JULY 26, 2009 (160 LAPS, 400 MILES)


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AT INDY: In nine NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has recorded two top-10 finishes and led 54 laps at the historic racetrack.

LEADING LAPS: According to NASCAR's loop data statistics, Earnhardt ranks fifth among all drivers in the laps led category at the Brickyard during the past four races. The 34-year-old driver has led 41 of the 640 laps run during the last year fours.

INDIANAPOLIS CHASSIS: Interim crew chief Lance McGrew and the No. 88 engineers will unload Chassis No. 88-556, which is the first car that McGrew has built from scratch for Earnhardt. This is a brand new chassis that never has been raced or tested.

GOOD COMPANY: Earnhardt's eight wins at tracks greater than two miles in length rank him sixth overall among active drivers. He is joined in the top 10 by his three Hendrick Motorsports teammates -- Jeff Gordon is first with 29 wins, Mark Martin is fourth with 12 and Jimmie Johnson is fifth with nine.

HENDRICK AT INDY: Hendrick Motorsports, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this season, has six wins, 15 top-five finishes and 23 top-10s in 15 races (53 starts) at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. A Hendrick driver has scored a top-10 or better in each of the last 15 Cup events at the racetrack.

ON TOP: Hendrick Motorsports has the most wins (six) of any Cup team at the Brickyard and has led the most laps (623) at the 2.5-mile speedway. Jeff Gordon, the winningest NASCAR driver at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with four victories, scored the inaugural win at the Brickyard in 1994. Jimmie Johnson won in 2007 and last year.

CHEVY STREAK: A Chevrolet has been to Victory Lance in the last six Cup events at the Brickyard 400. In the 15 NASCAR Cup Series races held at the Brickyard, the manufacturer has made 10 trips to Victory Lane. In addition, Chevrolet has started from the pole position six times.

GET ON THE NO. 88: At this year's AMP Energy 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, thousands of members of JR Nation will see their names on Earnhardt's No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet as part of the AMP Energy "Get on the 88" promotion. Race fans can enter by simply logging on to www.AMPEnergy.com. The first to sign up will see their names on Earnhardt's car and others will appear on the team's pit wall banner. Participants will be notified before the Nov. 1 race with a confirmation of where their names landed. This marks the second year of the hugely popular program.

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DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER, NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON THE CHALLENGES OF INDIANAPOLIS.): "Flat tracks are always the toughest for me. At the flat tracks, the middle is the toughest part. The corners at Indy are like 90-degree corners. We don't run on any other track that's like this, so it's a real challenge knowing what you need your car to be doing to go fast. It's fun. It's a great racetrack. I like it. I enjoy it. But it can be frustrating. It's really, really hard to pass."

EARNHARDT (ON HIS FAVORITE INDY MEMORY.): "Going there the first time (in 2000) and running up front. I started the race in the top 10 and was running with the leaders for a little bit. My dad had this old crazy setup from years ago in his car. I drove it some, and I was like, 'Man, this thing drives totally different than anything I ever drove before.' But I was going to stick with what I was driving because it was the talk of the garage -- the style, the setup we were running. About 100 laps into the race, we're running good, and Daddy's running like 10th. Then with 50 (laps) to go, he drove right past me as we got real tight. His old race car -- with the tiny sway bar and all these old-school springs -- was still turning and rolling through the corner. I thought that was pretty neat."

LANCE McGREW, INTERIM CREW CHIEF, NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON THE CHALLENGES AT INDIANAPOLIS.): "I think the weather makes racing hard. As far as anything else, the track surface is seriously temperature-sensitive. And about halfway through the day, you look up and you've slowed down a second and a half, but the car still feels the same, so it's very difficult to understand how much you need to be working on the car because all of a sudden the time just goes away. So you're pulling your hair out the rest of the day trying to figure it out. And the qualifying deal was the most challenging place we qualify. Because instead of starting qualifying at noon where everybody has the same day, the same temperature, it starts at like 10 o'clock in the morning. So if you get an early draw, you're going to go so much faster than the guys that go late."

McGREW (ON HIS THOUGHTS REGARDING THE NEW TIRES THIS YEAR.): "I think Goodyear has gone to test there like six times or more since last season, and with the (No.) 24 going the last time, I believe Jeff (Gordon) was pretty happy. They were able to run 30 green-flag laps without issue, even with a smaller car count where they only take four or five cars to the track. So, hopefully all that tire stuff's over. It looks really good so far. Jeff doesn't seem to think there's going to be any kind of problem. So the more cars that are there, the better that will get."

McGREW (ON WHERE AN INDY WIN WOULD RANK FOR HIM.): "It would be pretty spectacular. There's so much history and excitement about that race. There always has been. It's a very hard racetrack to get around. It's difficult to set a car up there. The straightaways are so long, but the corners are relatively slow. Mile-per-hour-wise, you still fly around the place, but it's drastically different. It's one of those places you grow up as a kid and you watch races there and the Indy 500 with all the prestige and the history with the racetrack and the yard bricks and everything that goes with it. It would be pretty exciting to kind of break through everything else we've had going on and get a great finish like that. That would be spectacular."

McGREW (ON HIS FAVORITE ALL-TIME INDIANAPOLIS MEMORY.):"I've got a bunch of them. I remember Al Unser Jr. winning there, that's probably one of them. There's just so many of just the really close finishes. The one they had a couple years ago where, it might have been (Sam) Hornish (Jr.) drafted by to win at the end. There's so many good finishes and good races there. It's hard to narrow it down to just one."