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PRESS RELEASE
Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Goody's Cool Orange 500 NSCS Race Preview
Hendrick Motorsports, Press Release
AT MARTINSVILLE: Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be making his 17th start at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway on Sunday. In 16 races, Earnhardt has accumulated seven top-10 finishes -- all fifth place or better. His most recent top-five result was last April when he led 137 laps during the race and finished fifth. Overall, Earnhardt has paced 621 laps around the paper-clip-shaped half-mile oval.
VIRGINIA BOYS: Three crew members from the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard team hail from the Commonwealth of Virginia. Engineer Darian Grubb grew up in Floyd, Va., which is 45 miles northwest of Martinsville Speedway. Grubb earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech in 1998. Fellow Virginia Tech graduate Brian Whitesell, who has been team manager of the Nos. 5 and 88 Chevrolets since 2005, hails from Stuarts Draft, Va. Jim Jenkins, a mechanic who handles Earnhardt's helmets and seats, grew up in coastal Hampton, Va.
MARTINSVILLE CAR SELECTION: Crew chief Tony Eury Jr. selected Chassis No. 88-421 for Martinsville. This car last was used two weeks ago at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, where the team took the fifth position to claim its third top-five finish of the season.
HENDRICK AT MARTINSVILLE: Dating back to April 13, 2003, Hendrick Motorsports has won eight of the last 10 Sprint Cup Series races at Martinsville Speedway. In those 10 races, Hendrick teams claimed the pole position five times and recorded 19 top-five finishes. Overall, Hendrick drivers have recorded 16 wins, 46 top-five finishes, 74 top-10s and led more laps at Martinsville than at any other track (5,367 laps). In 24 years of running at Martinsville, Hendrick Motorsports has posted a top-10 finish in all but six of 48 races. The last time at least one Hendrick team failed to finished inside the top-10 there was April 24, 1994.
GOING GREEN: AMP Energy wants to see how fans of Dale Earnhardt Jr. are "going green" this season. Fans can win a chance to go to the AMP Energy 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in October and meet Earnhardt by showing AMP Energy how JR Nation is going green. Log onto www.AMPEnergy.com for more information or to submit photos or videos.
STILL STREAKING: Hendrick Motorsports' streak of top-10 finishes improved to 70 races after last week's event at Bristol Motor Speedway where Earnhardt finished fifth. The last time a Hendrick driver wasn't in the top 10 was April 9, 2006. Finishing 11th, Jimmie Johnson was Hendrick's top performer that day at Texas Motor Speedway.
LEADER OF THE PACK: In the first five races of the season, Hendrick Motorsports has posted more top-three finishes (four) than any other race team and just as many top-five finishes (five) as Joe Gibbs Racing, Roush Fenway Racing and Richard Childress Racing.
DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER OF THE NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON WHAT HAS PREVENTED HIM FROM REACHING VICTORY LANE AT MARTINSVILLE.): "Honestly, what has been between me and Victory Lane is Hendrick Motorsports. They have an amazing run going at Martinsville. I run well there due to my short track background, but I seemed to always find myself finishing behind my new teammates (Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson)."
(ON HIS OUTLOOK FOR THIS WEEKEND.): "Hopefully we can turn the corner and get a win there because the track is important to me with its deep history within the sport. This track and its importance in the season is often overlooked, and I continue to try and capitalize on that each year with consistent top-five finishes. A win is our goal without a doubt."
DARIAN GRUBB, ENGINEERING MANAGER FOR THE NOS. 5 AND 88 SPRINT CUP TEAMS (ON WHAT HE'S LEARNED ABOUT HIS HOME TRACK.): "There are a few things that are unique to Martinsville just because of the unique paper-clip shape. You have to do a lot of tuning for breaking and accelerating so it's a go, turn, stop, go again type track. You have to be able to do all those things individually, and it's more about making your driver comfortable from what I've learned over the years. The driver skill actually comes out a lot more at Martinsville than at some of the other tracks because they can control the car. As long as you make the car comfortable for them, they can get the job done."
(ON GOING BACK TO MARTINSVILLE.): "I absolutely love going back to Martinsville just because it's very close to my hometown. It's only about 45 minutes down the mountain from Floyd where I grew up. A lot of good memories from back in the late model racing days when we'd have 160 cars show up, and you had to get in there and try to make the show. That was actually one of the first race tracks I ever went to. I was about 16 years old. I love that place and have a lot of good memories come back every time I go there."
(ON WHEN HE FIRST TRIED A MARTINSVILLE HOT DOG.): "I'd say that first year I went when I was 16. It's just been a ritual ever since then. You've got to have at least two a day, or you're going to have bad luck. I think the most I ever had was 27 in one weekend. That was over a four-day weekend for a late model show; a little bit of competitive eating going on."
(ON WHAT MAKES THE HOT DOGS SPECIAL.): "They're just different. The Martinsville hot dog is kind of an icon of its own. Some people just absolutely despise them because they look at it and it's pink in the middle, but I actually have grown up with them so I love them. They've got a really good flavor, and it's unique to the area. Some people hate them, and some people love them. I'm one of the lovers."
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Grubb doctors his hot dog with chili, mustard and onions. Occasionally, he'll add some slaw.)
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