Dale Jr Watkins Glen Preview

LAST TIME AT THE GLEN: In his Hendrick Motorsports debut at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International last August, Dale Earnhardt Jr. led a career-high 33 laps at the 2.45-mile road course. He also posted his best qualifying effort of second at the track before finishing 22nd.

AT THE GLEN: In nine NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Watkins Glen, Earnhardt has recorded two top-five finishes and three top-10s. He has led 46 laps and completed 92.2 percent of all laps he’s attempted (749 laps of 812) at the New York racetrack.

WATKINS GLEN CHASSIS: Crew chief Lance McGrew and the No. 88 engineers will unload Chassis No. 88-514, which Earnhardt last raced at Infineon Raceway in June. Earnhardt was running in the top 10 with 10 laps remaining at the California road course when another competitor sent him spinning. He was scored with a 26th-place finish.

NEW YORK NATIVES: Three members of the No. 88 team hail from the Empire State. Mechanic Gene Pasquale calls Rochester, N.Y., which is 81 miles northwest of Watkins Glen, his hometown. Truck driver Rich Pickrell hails from Perth, roughly 201 miles northeast of the road course. Scorer Karen Belden is from Schenectady, situated almost 207 miles east of Watkins Glen.

LAPS IN THE TOP 15: According to NASCAR’s Loop Data statistics, Earnhardt is ninth among drivers in laps in the top 15 at Watkins Glen during the past four races. The 34-year-old driver has spent 57.5 percent of his time, or 208 laps, in the top 15.

SWITCHING UP THE PIT STOPS: During Sunday’s race, the No. 88 pit crew will work on the car from the opposite side. To address this change, McGrew will move his front-tire changer and carrier to the rear of the car and vice versa. The No. 88 team has devoted practice time during the last several weeks to prepare for the 220-mile event.

HENDRICK AT THE GLEN: Hendrick Motorsports, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this season, has scored six wins, 17 top-five finishes and 30 top-10s in 24 Cup events at Watkins Glen. Tim Richmond forecast success for Hendrick Motorsports by winning the organization’s first WGI event on Aug. 10, 1986.

GET ON THE 88: Members of JR Nation have until Aug. 15 to “Get on the 88″ pit wall banner at this year’s AMP Energy 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. Race fans can enter by logging onto www.AMPEnergy.com. More than 73,000 fans already have claimed the spots on Earnhardt’s No. 88 Chevrolet, and participants will be notified by the Nov. 1 race where their name landed.

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DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER, NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET (ON WATKINS GLEN.): “It’s more time on the racetrack with Lance (McGrew, crew chief) that will make this team better. Watkins Glen is a decent track, but we won’t learn like we need to at the ovals. I’ve had a couple of good runs at the track, and it was good to run well at Sonoma earlier this year. But I prefer racing on ovals.”

LANCE McGREW, INTERIM CREW CHIEF, NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET (ON IF RUNNING WELL AT SONOMA GIVES THE TEAM CONFIDENCE FOR WATKINS GLEN.): “I think it does somewhat. It’s definitely a different racetrack so you have to approach it differently from my standpoint, and I think from driver’s standpoint, too. There’s just not that many slow corners so you have to take a lot more into consideration. You just fight an entirely different list of things at Sonoma than you do at the Glen. I like to go road racing because it’s such an ‘out of my element’ kind of thing. So I feel like it makes me a little more well-rounded.”

McGREW (ON THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SONOMA AND WATKINS GLEN.): “Generally Sonoma with the lower-speed corners, these cars make so much horsepower that you are always fighting wheel spin and just forward bite off the corner. And you just don’t seem to fight that as much at the Glen. Aero becomes way, way more important. If you don’t get through the esses good, you don’t get down the back-straight good. If you don’t get down the back-straight good, they pass you getting into the chicane at the end. So there’s definitely two really good positions you could put yourself in to pass at the Glen, which is probably about the same as Sonoma as far as that’s concerned. It’s still hard to pass on road courses unless you beat your way through there. But if your car’s really good, you can maneuver and manipulate and pass people.”

McGREW (ON PLANNING FOR THE REVERSE PIT STOPS AT WATKINS GLEN.): “There’s two schools of thought on it. The driver just has to understand that he’s got to turn in the pit box from a different direction. The crew is where the changes come into play. Some people believe they move their front guy to stay at the front; other people swap tire changers so their position when they run around the car is similar, and they discard the tire in the same way. I think I’ve found that it seems to be easier for us to swap the tire changers and have them run around their natural direction versus trying to keep your front guy in the front of the car and back guy at the back of the car. But it throws a wrinkle to it, and it definitely slows down the pit stops because your guys are just not in tune to running that direction or doing everything so differently.”

Credit:Hendrick Motorsports, Press Release