Bristol Summer Preview

AT BRISTOL: In 19 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Bristol Motor Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has scored one win, seven top-five finishes and 10 top-10s. He averages a finishing position of 11.8 and has completed 98.4 percent of all the laps he’s attempted (9,365 of 9,513 total) at the short track. He has led 743 laps and finished in the top 10 in seven of the last 10 events at the short track.

AMP ENERGY SUGAR FREE: Earnhardt’s No. 88 Chevrolet will have a different look this week with a special AMP Energy Sugar Free/National Guard silver paint scheme. AMP Energy Sugar Free offers all the power of AMP Energy without the sugar or the calories.

MAKING GAINS: Earnhardt improved four spots in the championship standings to 21st after his third-place finish last week at Michigan International Speedway. This was the biggest gain in the standings for any driver following last week’s Cup race.

BETTER IN AUGUST: Earnhardt has scored better finishes during the second Bristol event in seven of the last nine years. His lone Bristol win occurred in August 2004 when he paced the field for 295 of 500 laps. Most recently, Earnhardt finished 14th during the March event at the short track.

LOOP DATA: According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Earnhardt has the best average finish â€" 8.4 â€" among all active drivers during the last nine races at Bristol. He also leads all active drivers with 366 green-flag passes during that timeframe.

LOGGING LAPS: Earnhardt has logged more laps at Bristol Motor Speedway than any other track on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit. The 34-year-old driver has circled the track 9,365 times for 4,991.5 miles since his first Cup race there in March 2000.

BRISTOL CHASSIS: Crew chief Lance McGrew and the No. 88 engineers will unload Chassis No. 88-526, which Earnhardt last raced to a 12th-place finish at Dover (Del.) International Speedway in May. The chassis made its debut in March at Bristol, where Earnhardt finished 14th.

HENDRICK AT BRISTOL: Hendrick Motorsports, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, has tallied eight wins, 39 top-five finishes and 70 top-10s in 51 Cup events (155 starts) at the short track.

DALE JR.’S GREAT GIVEAWAY: Fans can register now through Sept. 18 at www.DaleJrsGreatGiveaway.com to win weekly prize packages. The prizes include gift certificates, product packages, autographed merchandise, personal driver meet-and-greets and race-weekend giveaways, courtesy of JR Motorsports’ 12 sponsorship partners. For more information, visit www.DaleJrsGreatGiveaway.com.

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DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER, NO. 88 AMP ENERGY SUGAR FREE/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON BRISTOL.): “We have been working hard as a team, and I want to carry the momentum from Michigan. This is about as exciting as it gets for fans â€" night racing at Bristol. I enjoy short-track racing â€" it’s what I grew up doing. Hopefully we can have another good run.”

LANCE McGREW, INTERIM CREW CHIEF, NO. 88 AMP ENERGY SUGAR FREE/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON BRISTOL.): “For me, in general, the hardest thing about Bristol is just the noise. It is so difficult. The laps happen so fast you can’t ever talk to the driver because you can’t talk to him while he is in the corner there, and he is always in the corner. So it is so loud, and everything happens so fast that it’s just very difficult to get good information to the driver and get good information back from the driver to make changes on the car. It’s just impossible. And even under caution you are running around there in such a short amount of time. It’s difficult to get a plan before you even come to pit road, so communication there is very, very difficult.”

McGREW (ON QUALIFYING AND PIT SELECTION AT BRISTOL.) “Qualifying is everything. Because when you start, if you don’t qualify decent, you’re half a lap down when the race starts. And when you are only running 15 second laps, then your lap speed is three-quarters of a second under what the leader’s is just because of track position and traffic. They will just eat you up. They will be lapping cars there in 25 laps.”

Credit: Hendrick Motorsports, Press Release