Michigan Summer Preview

PREVIEW: DALE EARNHARDT JR. (NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET)
VENUE: MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY (TWO-MILE D-SHAPED OVAL)
CIRCUIT: NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES (RACE 23 OF 36)
DATE: AUG. 16, 2009 (200 LAPS, 400 MILES)

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350TH CUP START: Dale Earnhardt Jr. will make his 350th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway. Since his Cup debut, which happened at Lowe's Motor Speedway on May 30, 1999, Earnhardt has amassed 18 wins, eight pole positions, 87 top-five finishes and 140 top-10s. His 6,473 laps led rank fifth among active full-time drivers.

AT MICHIGAN: In 20 Cup starts at Michigan, Earnhardt has recorded one win, two pole positions, three top-five finishes and six top-10s. He has led 167 laps and completed 98.9 percent of all laps he's attempted (3,848 laps of 3,891) at the track. He has led at least one lap in seven of his last eight outings.

MICHIGAN WIN: Earnhardt's June 15, 2008, victory was his first win in a points-paying event for Hendrick Motorsports and his most recent win in the Cup Series. Earnhardt led 43 laps and took the checkered flag.

ATLANTA BOUND: Before heading to Michigan, Earnhardt will make a stop in Atlanta on Thursday to promote next month's NASCAR weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

NOT-SO-AVERAGE RUNNING POSITION: According to NASCAR's loop data statistics, Earnhardt ranks fourth overall with an average running position of 10.933 at Michigan. The average running position is derived from taking the sum of a driver's position on each lap and dividing it by the total number of laps run in each race.

DRIVER RATING: According to NASCAR's loop data statistics, Earnhardt ranks fifth in the driver rating category at Michigan with a score of 99.3. The driver rating is a formula that combines wins, top-15 finishes, average running position while on the lead lap, average speed under green, fastest lap, most laps led and lead-lap finishes. The maximum a driver can earn in each race is 150 points. The driver rating number is used pre-race as a prediction tool and post-race as a performance evaluator.

MICHIGAN CHASSIS: Crew chief Lance McGrew and the No. 88 engineers will unload Chassis No. 88-556, which first was first raced by Earnhardt at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 26. Earnhardt last raced this chassis to a 28th-place finish at Pocono Raceway earlier this month.

LAPS IN THE TOP 15: According to NASCAR's loop data statistics, Earnhardt ranks sixth among drivers for laps run in the top 15 at Michigan during the past nine races. The 34-year-old driver has spent 73.9 percent or 1,282 laps in the top 15.

HENDRICK AT MICHIGAN: Hendrick Motorsports, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, has scored five wins, 35 top-five finishes, 66 top-10s and has led 1,710 laps at Michigan. Mark Martin drove the No. 5 Chevrolet to score Hendrick Motorsports' fifth win at the two-mile oval on June 14.

GET ON THE 88: Members of JR Nation have until Saturday 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.

BRISTOL SNEAK PEAK: Earnhardt's No. 88 will feature a different look next week at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway 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.

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DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER, NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET (ON MICHIGAN.): "I enjoy racing at Michigan, and we seem to run pretty well there. It's a big track, and there are multiple grooves to run. If one line doesn't work, then you can move around the track. We had a good car last time out so hopefully we improve on that."

LANCE McGREW, INTERIM CREW CHIEF, NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET (ON WHAT INFORMATION WILL CARRY OVER THE SECOND TIME AROUND AT MICHIGAN.): "I think setup-wise, we weren't altogether where we needed to be (at Michigan in June). I think we've learned a lot more things about what Dale likes and what Dale doesn't like. And I think that our cars are better. I think where we've had opportunities to build a couple new cars and get a car or two in rotation, that's going to alleviate some of the problems that we were fighting there the first time that we couldn't seem to overcome as much. So, I definitely think Dale's tuned in, and I'm looking forward to starting to go back to some of these tracks that I feel like we had three-quarters of the race put together, and we just didn't follow through on the last 25 percent. So I feel like we've learned a lot since then, and it's up to us to put something under him that he's happy with for the whole race, not just three-quarters of it."

McGREW (ON WHAT IT TAKES TO BE GOOD AT MICHIGAN.): "There's a lot of ways you can be good. You can be good around the bottom all day, you can be good around the middle, you can be good around the top. I think it's just like any of the big intermediate tracks -- aero is key, and if your car handles good you can run anywhere you want to run. For me, I think I've always referred to Michigan as a driver's kind of racetrack because if his car's not working one place, he can generally find a place that it will work. A lot like Atlanta or a place similar -- it's very wide, you can run the top, you can run the bottom, you can run the middle. So I think it makes my life a little bit easier."

McGREW (ON PREPARING FOR FUEL MILEAGE STRATEGY.): "Other than just preparing your car pre-event to maximize everything you can maximize as far as your fuel system, that's all you can do. A lot of times it seems to come into play, and it never seems to fail that you're two laps from making it or three laps from making it. You're never 10 laps from making it. The cautions always fall where it's right on the edge, and you have to gamble from the get-go that you're going to stay out. And once you decide that strategy, you can't veer off of it because then you've just wasted your time. It never seems to matter if they make the race 200 laps or 202 laps or 216 laps. It's always close on fuel mileage."

Credit: HMS PR