Catchfence

AT LAS VEGAS: In nine NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has scored two top-five finishes and three top-10s and led 162 laps. Earnhardt, driver of the No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet, tied his career-best Las Vegas finish of second place last year after leading 17 laps at the 1.5-mile racetrack.

GUARD ON THE HOOD: The red, white and blue National Guard/AMP Energy paint scheme will canvas the hood of the No. 88 Chevrolet this weekend. Earnhardt most recently led a race-high 23 laps during the Budweiser Shootout in the No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Chevy.

CHASSIS CHOICE: This weekend, crew chief Tony Eury Jr. and the No. 88 engineers will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-488, which is the same car that Earnhardt drove to a second-place finish at Las Vegas in 2008. Earnhardt also drove this car last April at Texas Motor Speedway, earning the pole position and leading 31 laps en route to a 12th-place finish.

HAULER PARADE: Team transporter drivers Dave Radney and Rich Pickrell will participate in the NASCAR Hauler Parade on the Las Vegas Strip on Thursday. Starting at 10 a.m. local time, the NASCAR team haulers will drive north on The Strip, among some of the world’s most well-known hotels and casinos.

DOUBLE DUTY: In addition to his duties behind the wheel of the National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet this weekend, Earnhardt will drive the No. 5 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series event. Most recently, Earnhardt finished seventh in the season-opening Nationwide Series race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. In two previous Nationwide events at Las Vegas, Earnhardt has an average finish of fourth.

AMP ENERGY COMMERCIAL NOW PLAYING: Earnhardt spent two days in January filming a documentary-style commercial for sponsor AMP Energy. Earnhardt collaborated with Sundance Film Festival award-winning director Stacy Peralta on creating the spot, which debuted during FOX’s airing of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 15. Fans can visit www.AMPEnergy.com to see additional behind-the-scenes footage of Earnhardt and his friends from the shoots.

GET IN GEAR: AMP Energy is kicking off the first 10 weeks of the 2009 racing season by giving fans a chance to win unique Earnhardt merchandise and VIP trips to the AMP Energy 500, which will be held in October at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. To play, fans should enter the code found on the bottom of their AMP Energy beverage can. Visit www.AMPEnergy.com for more information.

HENDRICK AT VEGAS: Hendrick Motorsports, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this season, has scored four wins, 11 top-five finishes and 15 top-10s in 11 Cup events at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Most recently, Jimmie Johnson won at the 1.5-mile racetrack in 2007.

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DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER OF THE NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY IMPALA SS (ON LOOKING FORWARD TO LAS VEGAS AND BEYOND.): “I’m looking forward to these next couple of weeks — to seeing how we’re doing on the track and seeing how what we did over the offseason is paying off. We’ve had some great cars, but the results haven’t reflected that. I’ve had a lot of support from my teammates and all that stuff. Everybody has got a job to do.”

DOUG DUCHARDT, VICE PRESIDENT OF DEVELOPMENT, HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS (ON THE ENGINE TROUBLES THAT AFFECTED THE NOS. 5 AND 88 CARS AT AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY.): “Both cars had valve train failures that were related to a specific batch of parts from a vendor. All of our engines, lease programs included, had parts from the same batch, so we’re glad it wasn’t more widespread. It’s always extremely disappointing when something like that happens, but, fortunately, it’s a problem we can quickly address and fix. Our engine team did a great job identifying the root cause, and it shouldn’t affect us moving forward.”

 

Hendrick Motorsports, Press Release