2010 NNS Dale Earnhardt Jr - Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR

AT LAS VEGAS:

POINTS REPORT: Earnhardt, driver of the No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet, currently ranks 16th in the Sprint Cup Series championship standings. He trails leader Kevin Harvick by 89 points.

CHASSIS CHOICE: This weekend, crew chief Lance McGrew and the No. 88 engineers will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-556, which is the first chassis McGrew built from scratch for Earnhardt. This chassis, which Earnhardt debuted in 2009 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, was used last at Texas Motor Speedway in November. Earnhardt was running sixth before a late-race fuel gamble resulted in a 25th-place finish.

ROOKIE STRIPE: This will be McGrew’s first Las Vegas Motor Speedway race as the crew chief of the No. 88 Chevy, but he has experience leading a team at the 1.5-mile oval. In 2008, McGrew filled in as crew chief for the No. 5 JR Motorsports team for six NASCAR Nationwide Series events, including the March race at Las Vegas where he coached driver Mark Martin to Victory Lane. Darlington (S.C.) Raceway is the final track on the schedule where McGrew has yet to sit atop the No. 88 pitbox.

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 6 p.m. local time, the NASCAR team haulers will drive north on the Strip, past some of the world’s most well-known hotels and casinos.

HENDRICK AT LAS VEGAS: Hendrick Motorsports has scored four wins, 11 top-five finishes and 17 top-10s in 12 events (46 starts) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

AMP ENERGY DVD: AMP Energy’s “6 Days to Race Day” DVD provides fans with exclusive footage of how Earnhardt and his No. 88 team prepare each week for race day. The DVDs are available free on specially marked four-packs of AMP Energy.

GUARD GARAGE: Visit www.DaleJrGuardGarage.com and join the Guard Garage Fan Club to stay up-to-date with Guard drivers and score free ringtones, wallpapers and more.

FREE JR NATION FAN CLUB: Now race fans can get a free subscription to the JR Nation Crew Fan Club — the official fan club of Earnhardt and JR Motorsports. The club just launched a new Web site complete with chat rooms, forums and blogs. For more information, visit www.dalejr.com/jrnation.

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NATIONAL GUARD YOUTH CHALLENGE: Earnhardt and team owner Rick Hendrick will attend the National Guard’s Youth ChalleNGe dinner Tuesday in Washington, D.C. The mission of the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program is to intervene in and reclaim the lives of at-risk youth to produce program graduates with the values, skills, education and self-discipline necessary to succeed as adults. The dinner recognizes the Youth ChalleNGe Cadets on their hard work and dedication to the program.

AMP UP THE 88: McGrew will participate in his first live video chat with fans on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. ET on AMP Energy’s new Web site, www.ampupthe88.com. The site will feature weekly chats with a member of the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard team, daily sweepstakes with autographed No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard team memorabilia, videos, photos and more.

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DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER, NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET (ON LAS VEGAS.): “The track is a lot of fun. They reconfigured the banking (for the 2007 season), and it’s faster. I enjoy running around there. It’s a lot different than it used to be, and it’s a pretty unique track. It’s definitely a lot more fun since they reconfigured it.”

LANCE McGREW, CREW CHIEF, NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET (ON THE TEAM’S MILE-AND-A-HALF PROGRAM.): “It’s such a big part of what you do. There are so many mile-and-a-half tracks compared to the short tracks. They make such a big part of the first 26 races of the season. Your program has to be strong because you can’t sacrifice there and say, ‘I’m going to focus on my short track program.’ You can’t sacrifice any part of your game and be successful. I hope to have a strong run at Vegas. I haven’t been to Vegas with Dale (Earnhardt Jr.) so it’s going to be a little bit of learning curve. We were really good at Texas last year, and I think we have made some improvements over the off-season to our mile-and-a-half program so I’m excited to get to the track.”

McGREW (ON RACING AT VEGAS FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH THE NO. 88 TEAM.): “Until you have been with him at least one time, then you don’t have that notebook to go to. You can’t go to your driver and say, ‘We did this last time, and you really liked this or didn’t like this.’ Sometimes you have to go through a couple of extra hurdles along the way. As our communication has got better and better, that has been easier to deal with. So I don’t think it will be that big of a deal.”

McGREW (ON WHAT IT TAKES TO BE GOOD AT VEGAS.): “It’s not just one thing. On all of these mile-and-a-half tracks it comes down to who can hold the throttle down the longest through the corner and make the straightaways as long as you can because everyone has good horsepower. Everybody has the same aerodynamic with this car so it’s about making the chassis work and getting the driver comfortable to where he can mash the gas.”

- Hendrick Motorsports, Press Release

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR)

CHASSIS CHOICE: This weekend, crew chief Lance McGrew and the No. 88 engineers will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-559. Earnhardt last raced this chassis at Auto Club Speedway in October. He spent 70 percent of the race inside the top 15 and was running 11th when he was involved in an accident with five laps remaining. He finished 25th.

INTERMEDIATE TRACK STATS: In 174 Cup starts on intermediate (one- to two-mile) tracks, Earnhardt has recorded six wins, five pole positions, 37 top-five finishes and 67 top-10s. On 1.5-mile tracks, such as Homestead, he is sixth overall among active, full-time drivers in the laps led category (1,169 laps) and seventh overall in top-10 finishes (27 total).

Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Diecasts

HENDRICK AT HOMESTEAD: Homestead-Miami Speedway is the only racetrack on the current Sprint Cup schedule where Hendrick Motorsports has not won a race. The organization, which will wrap up its 25th anniversary season this weekend, has recorded eight top-five finishes and 16 top-10s in 10 Cup events (39 starts) there.

NATIONAL GUARD MOMENTS: Members of the Facebook community can share pictures highlighting their moments of pride, courage, strength, achievement or honor and share it with their friends by visiting the National Guard’s fan page at www.facebook.com/NationalGuard. Click the “At this Moment” tab for more information.

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DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER, NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET (ON HOMESTEAD.): “I haven’t had the best results at Homestead since they reconfigured the track, but hopefully with Lance (McGrew, crew chief) we can improve on that. You really have to hunt for the best line there. The corners are real tight, and the car doesn’t want to turn and roll through the center like you would expect it to. We always seem to get tight through the center there. We’ve had some good runs here lately, and hopefully we can end the season on a positive note.”

LANCE McGREW, CREW CHIEF, NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET (ON GOALS FOR FINAL RACE OF THE SEASON.): “Just a good, consistent run. It doesn’t have to be first or third. It could be that we qualified in the top 10, we ran in the top 10 all day and we finished sixth. I would like to see the race start and end the same way, just to show that we can do it. I would like to see some consistency throughout the event.”

McGREW (ON CHALLENGES AT HOMESTEAD.): “It’s just a different type of racetrack. The progressive banking, even in qualifying it seemed like the high line was faster than the low line. It’s just different. It’s very unique as far as racetracks go.”

McGREW (ON HIS OFFSEASON GOALS.): “I think the first thing that you have to do is try to put your pieces in place for next year as quick as you can. Because the longer the teams work together, the guys get more familiar with each other and everybody knows their role and position. Just like any other job, with repetition comes speed in how you do things. We need to put those guys in place as quick as we can so all of the positions are set up. Then when we have a chance to do a little bit of offseason testing — a little bit of this, a little bit of that — we can evaluate all of our people.”

- Hendrick Motorsports, Press Release

Dale Earnhardt, Jr., with His Crew Chief Lance McGrew

HENDRICK POWERED: In three starts at Phoenix with Hendrick Motorsports, Earnhardt has notched two top-10 finishes and led 150 laps. In this race last November, he drove the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet to a sixth-place finish — his best result at PIR with Hendrick Motorsports.

CHASSIS CHOICE: This weekend, crew chief Lance McGrew and the No. 88 engineers will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-541. Earnhardt last raced this chassis at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September. He spent most of the race inside the top 10 and was running fourth when he was involved in an accident with 17 laps remaining. He finished 35th.

INTERMEDIATE TRACK STATS: In 173 Cup starts on intermediate (one- to two-mile) tracks, Earnhardt has recorded six wins, five pole positions, 37 top-five finishes and 67 top-10s. On one-mile tracks, such as Phoenix, he ranks eighth among active, full-time drivers in the laps led category (826 laps) and seventh in top-10 finishes (14 total).

HENDRICK AT PHOENIX: Hendrick Motorsports, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, has seven wins, 23 top-five finishes and 44 top-10s in 26 races (91 starts) at Phoenix International Raceway.

ON A ROLL: Hendrick Motorsports drivers have won five straight races at Phoenix, with Mark Martin most recently visiting Victory Lane in April. Jimmie Johnson earned the three previous victories, while Jeff Gordon won the April 21, 2007, contest after starting from the pole position. During the last nine races at the track, Hendrick Motorsports drivers have claimed six victories and six pole positions.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Diecasts

CAR COLLECTION: More than 105,000 Earnhardt fans showed their support for the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard team by signing up for the “Get on the 88″ program and having their names displayed on Earnhardt’s car and pit wall banner at Talladega, Ala. To show his appreciation for all of the fan support, Earnhardt is keeping the green-and-black Chevy on his property in Mooresville, N.C.

HEAR FROM EARNHARDT: Get a weekly call and text from Earnhardt and hear his thoughts on the upcoming race. Text 88 to GUARD (48273) to sign up. Standard message and voice rates apply. Text HELP to 48273 for support and STOP 88 to 48273 to opt out. Visit www.NATIONALGUARD.com/DaleJr for more information.

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COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS: Earnhardt will attend Wednesday night’s Country Music Awards in Nashville, Tenn., on behalf of Chevrolet. The 35-year-old driver will present the award for Best Country Duo with Julianne Hough during the live television event, which will be broadcast on ABC. Air Force Master Sgt. Bubba Beason, winner of the Chevy Salutes America’s Heroes program, also will attend the event. The National Guard partnered with Chevrolet in this program to represent the well-deserving men and women currently serving our country.

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DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER, NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON PHOENIX.): “The car is really important at Phoenix. It takes something special to make a car work really good there. I think it’s real important to have a good handling car because each corner is so different. It’s tricky trying to be real good through Turns 1 and 2. There will be one or two guys that really get their cars to get through the center of the corners, and those are the guys that will be racing for the win. That seemed to be what we did when we won there. We beat everybody right down in the middle.”

LANCE McGREW, CREW CHIEF, NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON PHOENIX.): “Phoenix is kind of a different racetrack because both ends are so different. It’s cut real tight in (Turns) 1 and 2. You can get the car turning real good in (Turns) 1 and 2, but then you might be loose off in (Turns) 3 and 4. Your brakes are real important, and it’s all about getting the car to roll. The best handling car generally is going to win that race. Because getting through traffic is difficult, it’s hard to pass there. There’s only a couple of passing opportunities, so it’s very important to have your car handling as good as it possibly can be.”

McGREW (ON KEYS TO WINNING AT PHOENIX.): “No mistakes. A bad pit stop will do you in, a loose lug nut will do you in, a bad decision on the racetrack will do you in. I think we have to stay focused as a race team and not have any mistakes because it’s so hard to recover.”

- GM Racing Communications, Press Release

Dale Earnhardt, Jr., with His Crew Chief Lance McGrew

LUCKY LONE STAR STATE:

AT TEXAS: In 14 Sprint Cup starts at Texas Motor Speedway, Earnhardt has scored one win, three top-five finishes and seven top-10s. He has an average starting position of 9.1 and an average finish of 13.9 at the Fort Worth, Texas, track. He has led at least one lap in 11 of those starts for a total of 400 laps.

STRONG START: Earnhardt’s 9.1 average starting spot at Texas is a personal track best for the 35-year-old driver. The last time Earnhardt drove the No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet at Texas — April 6, 2008 — he scored the pole position.

IN THE FALL: Earnhardt has finished better in the fall Texas event in three of the four seasons since the track added a second race in 2005. He has a 17.8 average finish in the past five spring events at Texas and a 12th-place average finish in the fall. Earnhardt led six laps and finished 20th at the track earlier this year.

LAPS IN THE TOP 15: According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Earnhardt leads all drivers in laps run in the top 15 at Texas. During the last nine races at the 1.5-mile oval, the Kannapolis, N.C., native has spent almost 82 percent of his time (2,471 laps of 3,016) running in the top 15.

CHASSIS CHOICE: This weekend, crew chief Lance McGrew and the No. 88 engineers will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-556. Earnhardt last raced this car at Kansas Speedway on Oct. 4, where he led 41 laps before suffering an engine issue with 41 laps to go. This was the first chassis that McGrew built for Earnhardt from the ground up. It debuted at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July.

INTERMEDIATE TRACK STATS: In 172 Cup starts on intermediate (one- to two-mile) tracks, Earnhardt has recorded six wins, five pole positions, 37 top-five finishes and 67 top-10s. On 1.5-mile tracks such as Texas, he ranks sixth overall among active, full-time drivers in the laps led category (1,169 laps) and seventh in top-10 finishes (27 total).

TIRE TEST: Earnhardt and the No. 88 team are participating in a Goodyear tire test at the 2.5-mile Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway on Monday and Tuesday.

HENDRICK AT TEXAS: Hendrick Motorsports, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this season, has three wins, 17 top-five finishes and 26 top-10s in 17 Cup events (69 starts) at Texas Motor Speedway.

HEAR FROM EARNHARDT: Get a weekly call and text from Earnhardt and hear his thoughts on the upcoming race. Text 88 to GUARD (48273) to sign up. Standard message and voice rates apply. Text HELP to 48273 for support and STOP 88 to 48273 to opt out. Visit www.NATIONALGUARD.com/DaleJr for more information.

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DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER, NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET (ON TEXAS.): “I like racing at Texas. It’s a fun track. The fans always seem to be excited about us coming out there. We’ve had some good success at Texas, too, so that helps a lot and makes us get excited about coming back. I just like the enthusiasm that the crowd has and the people that are from in and around that area have for racing, so it gets me excited.”

LANCE McGREW, CREW CHIEF, NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET (ON TEXAS.): “We’ve had some good runs on intermediate tracks but just haven’t had the finishes we need to have. I like going to Texas. It’s a fast track. Corner speed at Texas is crucial. You are going to fight tight off of Turns 2 and 4, so your driver has to be able to get in the throttle, accelerating off the corners to go fast.”

- Hendrick Motorsports, Press Release

Dale Earnhardt Jr (Photo Credit: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

FIND YOUR NAME: The fans who signed up to “Get on the 88″ can go to www.AMPEnergy.com to find out if their names are on Earnhardt’s Chevrolet or pit wall banner. By entering the same e-mail address used during registration, fans can search a grid on the car to see where their names are located.

GOOD COMPANY: Earnhardt’s five wins at Talladega are the most for him at any one track and rank him third all-time among drivers at the Alabama oval. Earnhardt’s father, Dale Earnhardt Sr., leads with 10 wins at the track, while Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon has recorded six.

MOST RECENTLY AT TALLADEGA: Earnhardt Jr. scored his season-best finish of second in the spring NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Talladega. He led seven times for 20 laps on his way to his first top-five finish of the season.

EARNHARDT JR. AT TALLADEGA: In 19 Sprint Cup Series starts at Talladega Superspeedway, Earnhardt Jr. has scored five wins, eight top-five finishes and 11 top-10s. He scored a record-setting four consecutive wins at the 2.66-mile oval from October 2001 to April 2003. Earnhardt Jr. has led 655 laps around the track.

LEADING LAPS: Earnhardt Jr. has led all but two of the 19 Sprint Cup races he has entered at Talladega for a total of 655 laps. He has led more career laps at only two other tracks: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (758) and Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (743).

CHASSIS CHOICE: Interim crew chief Lance McGrew and the No. 88 engineers have chosen Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-475 for this weekend’s 500-mile event at Talladega. Earnhardt Jr. last drove this chassis to a 39th-place finish Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in July after being in involved in a mid-race accident. Before that, Earnhardt Jr. raced this chassis to a season-high second-place finish at Talladega in April.

STRONG ON SUPERSPEEDWAYS: In 39 Cup Series starts on superspeedways (Daytona and Talladega), Earnhardt Jr. has recorded seven wins, 14 top-five finishes and 22 top-10s. He has a 14.3 average starting position and an average finishing position of 14.9.

DRIVER RATING: According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Earnhardt Jr. is fifth in the driver rating category at Talladega with a 90.1 score. The driver rating is a formula that combines the following categories: wins, finishes, 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 points 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.

TIRE TEST: Following Sunday’s race, Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 team will participate in a Goodyear tire test at Daytona on Monday and Tuesday.

HENDRICK AT TALLADEGA: Earnhardt Jr.’s second-place finish in the April event at Talladega was the highest that day for Hendrick Motorsports, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this season. Hendrick Motorsports has won 10 races and led 1,891 laps at Talladega, both track records. Additionally, Hendrick drivers have scored 41 top-five finishes and 59 top-10s there.

TOP ENGINE BUILDERS: On Oct. 21, Matt Pennell and Scott Vester built their Chevrolet R07 engine in record time (22 minutes and 57 seconds) to win the Randy Dorton Hendrick Engine Builder Showdown at Hendrick Motorsports. Pennell, a Hendrick Automotive Group (HAG) technician, partnered with Vester, a Hendrick Motorsports engineer, to win the event. Twelve teams, each of which partnered a HAG technician with a Hendrick Motorsports engineer, participated in the two-day competition, which is held in honor of the late engine builder Randy Dorton and sponsored by MAHLE-Clevite.

HEAR FROM EARNHARDT JR.: Get a weekly call and text from Earnhardt Jr. and hear his thoughts on the upcoming race. Text 88 to GUARD (48273) to sign up. Standard message and voice rates apply. Text HELP to 48273 for support and STOP 88 to 48273 to opt out. Visit www.NATIONALGUARD.com/DaleJr for more information.

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AMP ENERGY 500 STAGE: On Saturday night, Earnhardt Jr. and AMP Energy will host the Zac Brown Band in the Talladega infield. The concert is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. local time, and Earnhardt Jr. will hold a 10-minute question-and-answer session with fans before the band plays. Fans can use their Sunday tickets for the AMP Energy 500 as admission to the concert.

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DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER, NO. 88 AMP ENERGY “GET ON THE 88″/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY.): “Talladega is a unique racetrack. It’s a great race to watch, and it’s a fun race to be in. It does a good job at maintaining excitement in the sport. You will never hear people complaining about the action or the level of racing. We always put on a great show, and there’s always a lot of drama. It can be dangerous, but we’ve got a safe race car, and they get safer every year. The track has got a great history, too. We always run good here, and the fans are always great to us, so I enjoy coming here.”

LANCE McGREW, INTERIM CREW CHIEF, NO. 88 AMP ENERGY “GET ON THE 88″/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON STRATEGY AT TALLADEGA.): “You can go there with a strategy if you want to, but it’s not going to make a difference in how you finish, I don’t think. Because you can get wrecked in the back, you can get wrecked in the front, you can get wrecked in the middle. You can get wrecked at the beginning of the race, you can get wrecked at the end of the race — it just doesn’t matter. I’m pretty sure we are going to go there with a strategy of trying to lead every lap and win. I don’t think Junior is the kind of guy that likes to ride around in the back and wing it in the end. It’s a track that he really enjoys going to, a track that the fans love to see him at and a track that we would love to win at.”

McGREW (ON FINDING A DRAFTING PARTNER.): “It depends on everybody else’s strategy. If our teammates decide to ride in the back all day, then obviously we can’t draft with them. So, I think that’s something you develop along the way — if you draft well with another guy, or if you draft well with his car that particular day.”

McGREW (ON JUNIOR NATION IN TALLADEGA.):“I know they love it. Junior Nation loves going to Talladega, and they love watching Dale Jr. It’s amazing how passionate they are.”

- Hendrick Motorsports, Press Release

Dale Earnhardt Jr (Photo Credit: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

AT MARTINSVILLE: Earnhardt, driver of the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet, has scored eight top-five finishes and 10 top-10s in 19 Cup starts at the short track. He has an average starting position of 12.6 and an average finish of 13.3. Earnhardt has completed 98.4 percent of all the laps he’s attempted there (9,357 of 9,510).

LAP LEADER: Earnhardt’s 758 laps led at Martinsville are a personal track best for the 35-year-old driver. He has tallied 146 of those laps driving the No. 88 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.

CHASSIS CHOICE: Interim crew chief Lance McGrew and the No. 88 engineers have chosen Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-562 for this weekend’s 500-lap event at Martinsville Speedway. This car is brand new and is the third one that McGrew has built from the ground up for Earnhardt.

DRIVER RATING: According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Earnhardt is fifth in the driver rating category in the fall event at Martinsville with a 102.4 score. The driver rating is a formula that combines the following categories: wins, finishes, 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 points 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.

VIRGINIA NATIVES: Four members of the No. 88 team call the state of Virginia home. Virginia Tech graduate Brian Whitesell, who has been team manager of the Nos. 5 and 88 Chevrolets since 2005, hails from Stuarts Draft. Mechanic Jim Jenkins and team engineer Tom Stewart both grew up in coastal Hampton. Car chief David Bryant calls Farmville his hometown.

TIRE TEST: Earnhardt and the No. 88 team will participate in a Goodyear tire test at the 1.5-mile Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., this week.

HENDRICK AT MARTINSVILLE: In 51 races (154 starts) at Martinsville Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports has 18 wins, 53 top-five finishes and 86 top-10s, all of which are the most for the organization at any racetrack. Most recently, Jimmie Johnson visited Victory Lane at the short track in March, commemorating the 25th anniversary of Hendrick Motorsports’ first win, which happened at Martinsville on April 29, 1984.

FIND YOUR NAME AT AMPENERGY.COM: The more than 70,000 fans who signed up to “Get on the 88″ can go to www.AMPEnergy.com to see where their names will be on the No. 88 AMP Energy “Get on the 88″/National Guard Chevrolet that Earnhardt will drive Nov. 1 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. AMP Energy unveiled the special paint scheme at www.AMPEnergy.com last weekend.

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ROCKIN’ THE RIVER CONCERT SERIES: The Dale Jr. Foundation is hosting the “Rockin’ the River” concert series at Whisky River in uptown Charlotte, N.C., every Thursday in October. This week, Earnhardt will host a live taping of QVC, and Blake Shelton will perform. Next Thursday, Phil Vassar is scheduled for the final performance for the fundraising effort, which benefits The Dale Jr. Foundation, Make-A-Wish Foundation and Victory Junction Gang Camp. For more information, visit http://whiskyriver.tickets.musictoday.com.

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DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER, NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY.): “We’ve had some pretty good runs at Martinsville, and I like racing on the short tracks. Jimmie (Johnson) and Jeff (Gordon) have always run really well there and can give good advice and feedback. Lance (McGrew, crew chief) has built some good race cars for me, and he is bringing a brand new car. I think we’ve got a good shot.”

LANCE McGREW, INTERIM CREW CHIEF, NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY.): “I think the biggest thing for Martinsville is you have to have a good-handling race car in the corner. If your car doesn’t roll just right, you’re going to fight forward bite issues all day, and you’re not going to get in the corner right. If you can keep the car turning on the corner just right then you are going to have a good day. And obviously, staying out of trouble is key.”

- Hendrick Motorsports, Press Release

Dale Earnhardt Jr (Photo Credit: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

LAST TRIP TO DOVER: The May race at Dover marked interim crew chief Lance McGrew’s first time calling a race for the No. 88 team. Team manager Brian Whitesell called the shots for the practice sessions and qualifying. Earnhardt climbed from his 22nd starting position that day to crack the top 10 by Lap 140. Earnhardt ran as high as third before crossing the finish line 12th to record his best Dover outing in a Hendrick Motorsports chassis.

MONSTER MILE WIN: Earnhardt’s lone Cup Series win at Dover came on Sept. 23, 2001. The victory was his second of his sophomore Cup season and the first win for the Cup Series following Sept. 11 attacks. Earnhardt displayed the American flag during his victory lap to pay tribute to the victims. In that race he started third and led 193 laps.

CHASSIS CHOICE: This weekend, McGrew and the No. 88 engineers will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-526. Earnhardt raced this chassis to a 12th-place finish at Dover in May and most recently to a ninth-place finish at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in August.

HENDRICK AT DOVER: Hendrick Motorsports, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this season, has 11 wins, 38 top-five finishes and 67 top-10s in 51 Cup events (155 starts) at Dover. Jimmie Johnson most recently visited Victory Lane there on May 31.

CHEVY SALUTES AMERICAN HEROES: Friends and family members can share why their current soldier is an inspiration and a hero to them by visiting www.youreverydayhero.com now through Sept. 28. Chevy will choose the top-five stories, and the public will vote on the site for its favorite story from Oct. 5-22. The soldier with the most votes will win a 2010 Chevrolet Equinox and will be a VIP guest at the Nov. 11 CMA awards, along with their immediate family.

‘TOGETHER’ TO AIR OCT. 11: “TOGETHER: The Hendrick Motorsports Story,” NASCAR Media Group’s documentary-style film chronicling the history of the eight-time Sprint Cup championship team, will air Sunday, Oct. 11 at 1:30 p.m. ET on ABC. Narrated by three-time Academy Award nominee Tom Cruise and presented by Pepsi, “TOGETHER” employs exclusive interviews, never-before-seen archival footage, thrilling racing sequences and rare family photography to detail the personal relationships and emotional events that have shaped one of NASCAR’s most decorated organizations. The official “TOGETHER” trailer is available at www.refresheverything.com/hendrick.

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DALE IN D.C.: Before heading to Dover, Earnhardt will make a stop in Washington D.C. At 2:15 p.m. ET on Thursday, he will participate in the public wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. Earnhardt, team owner Rick Hendrick and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon will participate in the honor on behalf of the National Guard. The group then will tour the Pentagon with members of the National Guard leadership.

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DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER, NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET (ON THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DRIVING ON CONCRETE AND ASPHALT.): “I like asphalt. Concrete’s rough. You put joints in concrete, and eventually over time it turns out like an old deck that hasn’t been treated and the joints sort of bend and flex and makes it real, real bumpy and rough. So I really like the asphalt better.”

EARNHARDT (ON THE KEYS TO SUCCESS AT DOVER.): “Dover has basically one groove, and it’s right on the bottom. So trying to get around the bottom of the racetrack and trying to keep the nose down and keep the front of the car turning and gripping is really the most important thing. There’s really not a second or third groove that works all day long. The guy that runs around the bottom and can do it the quickest is the best.”

LANCE McGREW, INTERIM CREW CHIEF, NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET (ON HOW HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH DALE EARNHARDT JR. HAS GROWN SINCE THE LAST DOVER RACE.): “I think it’s going good. It’s definitely been challenging because of the way he describes things and the way I am used to things being described is different. So that’s been an adjustment. But I think as a whole, at the racetrack we are performing better. We still aren’t getting the finishes I feel like we deserve, but I’m definitely seeing progress.”

McGREW (ON THE CHALLENGES OF RUNNING ON CONCRETE.): “I never look at it as being much different. If anything, the track stays a little more consistent. You don’t really fight, ‘OK, it’s sunny now so the track is going to free up or tighten up or whatever.’ It’s very similar to racing a regular asphalt track. There’s a little more stability in the surface, and that kind of lends your setups to be a little more stable over time.”

- Hendrick Motorsports, Press Release

Dale Earnhardt Jr (Photo Credit: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

LAST YEAR AT LOUDON: Last September, Earnhardt scored his most recent New Hampshire top-five finish driving Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 88 Chevrolet. He started the race fourth and led 79 laps before finishing fifth.

DRIVER RATING: According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Earnhardt is ranked fourth in the driver rating category at New Hampshire with a score of 102.6. 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.

LAPS IN THE TOP 15: According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Earnhardt is fourth among drivers for laps run in the top 15 at New Hampshire. During the last nine races at the 1.058-mile oval, the Kannapolis, N.C., native has spent almost 80 percent of the events (2,097 laps of 2,665) running in the top 15.

NEW HAMPSHIRE CHASSIS: Crew chief Lance McGrew and the No. 88 engineers will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-541. Earnhardt last raced this chassis to a 13th-place finish at New Hampshire in June.

HENDRICK AT NEW HAMPSHIRE: Hendrick Motorsports, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this season, has six wins, 27 top-five finishes and 44 top-10s in 102 starts at Loudon.

CHEVY SALUTES AMERICAN HEROES: Friends and family members can share why their current soldier is an inspiration and a hero to them by visiting www.youreverydayhero.com from Sept. 10-28. Chevy will choose the top-five stories, and the public will vote on the site Oct. 5-22 for its favorite story. The soldier with the most votes will win a 2010 Chevrolet Equinox and will be a VIP guest at the Nov. 11 CMA awards, along with their immediate family.

DALE JR.’S GREAT GIVEAWAY: Fans can register now through this Friday 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.

*****

DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER, NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON CHALLENGES AT NEW HAMPSHIRE.): “New Hampshire can be a one-groove racetrack. There’s a lot of rubber buildup, and that determines where you can and can’t run in the corners. If you can’t run the line you want to because of the rubber buildup on the track, it makes it frustrating.”

EARNHARDT (ON FOCUS IN THE FINAL STRETCH OF THE YEAR.): “We need to become a top-five team every week. I’d like to see more consistency and more strength in our performance.”

LANCE McGREW, INTERIM CREW CHIEF, NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/ NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON THE LAST RACE AT NEW HAMPSHIRE.): “The last race there came down to weather. I felt like we had the strategy that it took to win the race or to legitimately have a shot at winning it. The car was really good. It just happened to rain before the fuel window cycled through. It’s aggravating because a lot of times you feel like the best car doesn’t win, but that’s the case for a lot of places we go to, really.”

McGREW (ON WHAT IT TAKES TO BE GOOD AT NEW HAMPSHIRE.): “A good car. The car has to roll through the center really well and have good grip off the corner because it’s so hard to pass there. If you can run the bottom and roll through there fast and not have a big wheel spin problem coming off the corner, then you’ll be faster. So it’s a challenge to do both because a lot of times to get the car free enough to roll through the center, then he’s really going to have trouble getting the throttle down off the corner.”

- Hendrick Motorsports, Press Release

Dale Earnhardt Jr (Photo Credit: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

REWIND RICHMOND: Last September, Earnhardt scored his best Hendrick Motorsports finish at Richmond. He started the race fourth and led 90 laps before finishing fourth.

RICHMOND RECORD: Richmond is one of four tracks where Earnhardt, driver of the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet, has earned eight top-five finishes, a personal best. The other tracks where he has scored eight top-five results include Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

DRIVER RATING: According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Earnhardt is ranked eighth in the driver rating category at Richmond with a score of 92.9. 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.

RICHMOND CHASSIS: Crew chief Lance McGrew and the No. 88 engineers will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-539 for Saturday’s Chevy Rock and Roll 400 at Richmond. This chassis first saw action at Martinsville in March when Earnhardt finished eighth.

VIRGINIA NATIVES: Four members of the No. 88 team hail from the Old Dominion State. Team manager Brian Whitesell, a native of Stuarts Draft, Va., has a mechanical engineering degree from Virginia Tech and started working at Hendrick Motorsports in 1993. Engineer Tom Stewart grew up in Hampton and has a mechanical engineering degree from Old Dominion University. Car chief David Bryant grew up in Farmville racing late model stock cars at Southside Speedway in Midlothian, which is 15 miles southwest of Richmond. Mechanic Jim Jenkins, who was born in Charleston, S.C., grew up in a military family, and his father retired in Hampton, where the duo regularly visited local Langley Speedway.

GRAND MARSHAL: Specialist (SPC) Anthony M. Landowski, who was wounded in the line of duty in Afghanistan on May 17, will be the grand marshal for Saturday’s Chevy Rock and Roll 400. Landowski, a 22-year-old native of Ringgold, Ga., and a soldier from the Georgia Army National Guard, was serving as a combat medic with the 48th Brigade Combat Team from Calhoun, Ga., when he was injured by an IED blast. He was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in combat as well as the Combat Medic Badge for rendering aid while under hostile enemy fire. Landowski has been receiving care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for the past four months and desires to return to his unit. He anticipates returning to Georgia, where he ultimately will finish his associate’s degree and further pursue a career as a physician’s assistant.

HENDRICK AT RICHMOND: Hendrick Motorsports, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, has 10 wins, 43 top-five finishes and 76 top-10s in 50 Cup events (154 starts) at Richmond International Raceway.

HENDRICK BESTS: Richmond is one of two tracks where Hendrick Motorsports has scored a team-best 14 pole positions. Hendrick matches that total only at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. Geoff Bodine earned the team’s first pole position in the No. 5 Chevy at Richmond in September 1985, while Jimmie Johnson captured the most recent pole at the track in September 2007.

CHEVY SALUTES AMERICAN HEROES: Friends and family members can share why their current soldier is an inspiration and a hero to them by visiting www.youreverydayhero.com from Sept. 10-28. Chevy will choose the top-five stories, and the public will vote on the site for its favorite story from Oct. 5-22. The soldier with the most votes will win a 2010 Chevrolet Equinox and will be a VIP guest at the Nov. 11 CMA awards, along with their immediate family.

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.

*****

MUSIC CITY STOP: Before heading to Richmond, Earnhardt will stop in Nashville, Tenn., to attend the 131st National Guard Association of the United States conference. Earnhardt and National Guard teammate Jeff Gordon will meet with the National Guard’s top leadership, including the National Guard’s first four-star general Gen. Craig R. McKinley.

*****

DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER, NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON RICHMOND.): “I don’t think Richmond is really challenging. The only thing you really struggle with during the day in practice is getting your car to roll the center and turn right in the middle. That’s really, really hard to do without making the car too loose off the corner. It’s one fun racetrack. I love short-track racing, and Richmond is a lot of fun. You can move around and run different grooves, and the track is real, real slick. So it makes for a driver’s racetrack. I enjoy it.”

EARNHARDT (ON RICHMOND BEING A DRIVER’S TRACK.): “It’s a driver’s track to where I feel like a driver can play a big role in making the car better. It’s easier for me to tell my crew chief what the car is doing at that track than some others, and how to fix it and what we can do to help it. I have a lot of confidence going into there. I really like it.”

LANCE McGREW, INTERIM CREW CHIEF, NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON RICHMOND.): “It’s a short track, but it’s really fast. So it’s not like traditional short-track racing, like a Martinsville or someplace, where it’s like a bump-and-run kind of racetrack. You race it like a little superspeedway. It’s difficult to get your car to handle really well at both ends of the racetrack; so tight coming off Turn 2 usually. It’s a different type of track. It’s a driver’s track. There are some people that are really good there, no matter what you stick them in, and there are some people that no matter what you stick them in, they’re not. So it’s a challenge. Most of the places we go to are. But Richmond has a whole different set of circumstances to it.”

McGREW (ON IF RICHMOND BEING A DRIVER’S TRACK TAKES AWAY PRESSURE FROM THE CREW CHIEF.): “I think it does in a way because Junior is good there. I think if you have a driver that’s not good there, it’s twice as much pressure because it seems like you never find the combination that makes it fast.”

McGREW (ON GOALS FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON.): “I don’t think we’ve ever had a different set of goals but to win races and let the points fall where they are. I feel like the last couple of races we’ve finally gotten some of the finishes that I’ve felt like we’ve deserved along the way. The guys back in the shop are really working hard to put some new cars together to get to the racetrack. Right now we’re racing for wins.”

- Hendrick Motorsports, Press Release

Dale Earnhardt Jr (Photo Credit: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

ON A ROLL: Earnhardt has racked up two top-10 finishes in the last two Cup events. He scored a ninth-place finish on Aug. 22 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and took third-place honors on Aug. 16 at Michigan International Speedway. Earnhardt’s back-to-back top-10 finishes — the team’s first of the season — advanced the No. 88 four spots in the Sprint Cup point standings to 21st.

PERSONAL BESTS: Earnhardt’s eight top-five finishes at Atlanta match a personal best in that category for the 34-year-old driver. He also has scored eight top-five finishes at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, Richmond (Va.) International Raceway and Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. Earnhardt’s average finish of 11.6 ties his personal best at a track. He holds the same average finish at Bristol.

DRIVER RATING: According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Earnhardt is ranked third in the driver rating category at Atlanta with a score of 101.4. 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.

ATLANTA CHASSIS: This weekend, crew chief Lance McGrew and the No. 88 engineers will unload Chassis No. 88-559, a brand new chassis that never has been raced or tested. It is the second car that McGrew has built from the ground up for Earnhardt.

LOCAL TIES: Two members of the No. 88 team hail from the Peach State. Shock specialist Chris Golder was born in Alpharetta, Ga., a town roughly 35 minutes north of Atlanta. After graduating from high school in 1999, he raced in a pro-truck series at Lanier National Speedway in nearby Braselton, Ga. Golder went on to earn a degree in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech and has worked at Hendrick Motorsports since June 2004. Matt Skeen hails from Stone Mountain, which is about an hour north of Atlanta Motor Speedway. Skeen, who played football at Gardner-Webb University in western North Carolina, provides pit support for the No. 88 team.

HENDRICK AT ATLANTA: In 51 events (159 starts) at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports has tallied 10 wins, 46 top-five finishes, 71 top-10s and four pole positions. Most recently, Jimmie Johnson led eight laps on his way to Victory Lane at Atlanta on Oct. 28, 2007.

HOT AT ATLANTA: Hendrick Motorsports, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, has recorded a top-10 finish in the last 19 Cup events that have been held at Atlanta Motor Speedway. You have to go back to last century to find the most recent time Hendrick Motorsports failed to record a top-10 result there. It was Nov. 21, 1999, and Hendrick was then a three-car team with drivers Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte and Wally Dallenbach Jr.

DOUBLE DUTY: Prior to running the Sunday Cup race, Earnhardt will drive JR Motorsports’ No. 5 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Nationwide Series event on Saturday. Earnhardt, a 22-time race winner in the Nationwide Series, has six starts this season and most recently raced at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in July. In three previous Nationwide Series events at Atlanta, Earnhardt has two top-five finishes and has led 126 laps.

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.

*****

DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER, NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET (ON RACING AT NIGHT AT ATLANTA.): “I don’t think it’s going to change too much. The track is pretty wore down and will slow down over the long runs, but we will be running some pretty fast speeds the first five or 10 laps on new tires under the lights. That place is really, really fast.”

EARNHARDT (ON HIS GOALS FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON.): “We are mathematically out of the Chase at this point so we are watching everybody else and seeing how they are going to do. We are trying to help our teammates the best we can and support them in their efforts. I think Hendrick Motorsports has several opportunities to win the championship. We are going to try to win some races and help our teammates the best we can.”

LANCE McGREW, INTERIM CREW CHIEF, NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP ENERGY CHEVROLET (ON PREPARING FOR THE FIRST NIGHT RACE AT ATLANTA.): “We’ve qualified at Atlanta for years at night, so you are always preparing for that. I think it’s going to be wicked fast because Atlanta is really, really fast at nighttime. So, I don’t really know if you go about it any differently than if it was a day race. It’s just the track is going to be faster, and there’s going to be more grip. That’s pretty much it.”

McGREW (ON THE CHALLENGES AT ATLANTA.): “I’ve always thought Atlanta is such a driver’s racetrack because it is so wide and races so wide that there’s groove after groove after groove. If your car is not good on the bottom, we’ll try the middle; if it’s not good in the middle, we’ll try two-thirds; if it’s not good there, try the top. You’ll go from the top of one end to the bottom of the other. There’s always ability for a driver to hunt a line that helps his car, which I’ve always liked because, whether you believe it or not, these cars are never perfect. So, you always have to be able to hunt and peck and look for every last little hundredth (of a second) that you can find on the racetrack.”

- Hendrick Motorsports, Press Release

Dale Earnhardt Jr (Photo Credit: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

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 — 8.4 — 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.

*****

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 — night racing at Bristol. I enjoy short-track racing — 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.”

- Hendrick Motorsports, Press Release

Dale Earnhardt Jr (Photo Credit: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

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Promotional partners include: Adidas, AMP Energy, Goodyear, GoDaddy.com, PRS Guitars, Voodoo Ride, and XM.

ON WINNING AT MICHIGAN LAST JUNE “Michigan is a great race track. It has a lot of different grooves and we can move around and find places to run on the track which makes it pretty enjoyable. We like coming here because it’s in the backyard of the manufacturers. But I like the race track because it’s so wide. It’s really a well-built race track.”

HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS RUNS REALLY WELL AT THIS TRACK. AS A DRIVER WITH A COMFORT LEVEL AT THIS TRACK, WHAT’S THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN DO TO GAIN POSITION AND WIN? “I think the double-file restarts are going to be interesting and also the best opportunities to gain position.”

DOES IT SEEM LIKE THAT WIN WAS ANOTHER LIFETIME AGO? “Well, not really. Busch Series championships, Daytona 500 win, and the All-Star win were a lifetime ago.”

HOW HAS THIS YEAR CHALLENGED YOU WITH THE THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN SAID ABOUT YOU IN THE NEWS MEDIA AND ONLINE? “It’s still handling criticism no matter what direction it comes from. Everybody finds that a challenge. So, I don’t really find it to be a real big problem because for the most part, most of the criticism was definitely deserved or warranted. Most of the time the media were bringing up facts and statistics that were making sense (laughs). As a member of this team, you’d rather not be in the news for those reasons and you’re just trying to get back to the race track to do something to turn it around, you know? It just hasn’t happened yet. But criticism can be used as a way to motivate yourself and try to find some way to make it be a tool to help you. So, that’s what I try to do and try not to let it bring you further down, you know, in your spirits.”

DID YOU FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE BRAKES AT WATKINS GLEN LAST WEEK? “The brake line on the right-rear rubbed the hose clamp for the brake duct. That’s the way that we had routed that brake line all year long and it passed. And the line has also been routed that way in other race cars and it was just a freak deal how it flipped over.

“The adjuster on the hose clamp that holds the brake duct for the right rear on, hose, it rubbed on that nut where you put nut driver to tighten the hose clamp up, it rubbed against that. And it anything’s just barely rubbing on something on these cars, it can wear it in half if it happens to be a hose of some sort or a line like the brake line itself. And it was unfortunate. It was poor luck and it just seems to be the way things have been going for us.”

HAVE YOU TRIED JUST GETTING UP ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BED TO CHANGE YOUR LUCK? “No. I just try to keep coming back to the race track. I want to be at the race track because I feel like if I’m at the race track working with (crew chief) Lance (McGrew) we’re getting closer to turning it around. The days that it’s hard and frustrating are Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays when you’re not at the track and you don’t feel like you can make as much headway toward achieving your goals. It’s just waiting to get back to the track to see how we can get fast.”

WHAT HAVE YOU SEEN THAT INDICATES YOU GUYS ARE GETTING CLOSER? “Well, I don’t know. We had a pretty good car at Indy. We’ve had a couple of other runs at other tracks that were decent. But, we’re still not seeing the type of stuff that we need to see to feel like we’re going to be able to turn it around. We’re working hard. I got a lot of confidence in Lance. He has a lot of confidence in me. And I think we get along really well and we’re working really, really hard together. Our teammates, not just the drivers, but the crews and the crew chiefs are all trying to bond together to try to build the teams up; especially specifically our team. We want to be able to help our teammates in the Chase. We want to be able to be an asset to the company before the end of the season toward their quest for the championship. And that’s what’s most important I think for us, is to feel like we have a hand in controlling everyone’s destiny and be a part of it. So, we’re trying to become better and we have reason to do that before the end of the year, not only for ourselves, but for the company as well. Lance is a company guy. I’ve always kind of been that way in the past and try to do the right thing on and off the race track to help the company at that specific moment. So it’s sort of a goal of ours, not only to get ourselves turned around but to try to be an asset to the other teams throughout the Chase and be in some way, performance-wise, supportive to them.”

WHAT WERE YOU GETTING AT WITH RECENT COMMENTS ABOUT NASCAR ENGINEERS COULD DO MORE TO MAKE THESE CARS COMPETITIVE? “I just think, that everyone needs to…, what I am getting at is I think we need to open our eyes a little bit, everyone. I think media could address it a little stronger. I think that the drivers could be a little more vocal about it. I think NASCAR could probably be a little more urgent in improving our product. With the ultimate result is great, exciting racing that the fans will enjoy. That the drivers enjoy and so everyone is happy. That should be our quest always, even when things are good. I feel like especially right now, we need to really, really try to turn over every stone.

“That includes where we are with this COT and where we feel like its development is. And where we feel like its future goes and where we feel like this car goes; how it evolves. I just have a sense of urgency over the last couple of weeks I guess to see if we can’t do better.

“The reason, I think, where that comes from, is the double-file restarts and the spark that really put in to the racing. I enjoy it, I think all the drivers enjoy it. I think the fans love it. We need more of that. We need to do that. Things that are tangible such as the cars themselves and think of more ideas we can do within the races to add more of that. The double-file restarts gave us an opportunity to be exciting for only a moment and we need to figure out how we can maintain that throughout the entire race.

“I feel like, I just remember how the other cars drove. I liked how they drove and I like how this car is safe but I want to be able to race it like we raced the other cars.

“NASCAR is open to all of the drivers. I was just asked a question and gave an answer. I’m not trying to start a crusade against nobody or cause anybody problems. We all, I think, the drivers, myself included, we all work together with NASCAR to do this. I am just trying to remind everyone of the optimal goal and prize for us is to have better racing.

“Even when things are good, we shouldn’t rest on any success we may be having. We are not really where we want to be, I don’t think, as a sport. We need to do thinks to excite corporate America. Excite the fans. We need to get proactive immediately to make that happen.”

HOW WOULD RATE THE RACING AFTER THE DOUBLE-FILE RESTARTS? “Before that, I thought it was rather poor, I did. The races to me were very poor and we almost depended on the late cautions to save the day to make somebody race side-by-side for a couple of laps at least within 10 laps of the finish of the race and somehow that saved the day. Then there was no argument the next week, it would go away. It was very frustrating because 95% of the race wasn’t worth the price of the ticket.”

IS THE TOWN HALL MEETING VALUABLE OR NOT? “I was testing that day (of the first one). (LAUGHS) I feel like that those meetings are good. Those meetings are great. We need to do them more and I am sure NASCAR probably doing it without us evening knowing. I just think that we need to be proactive all of the time to try to make it better. And I think that the car is really safe and there are great characteristics about it but we need to be looking to opportunities on what could we do to make it even better, even greater.”

About General Motors: General Motors Company, one of the world’s largest automakers, traces its roots back to 1908. With its global headquarters in Detroit, GM employs 235,000 people in every major region of the world and does business in some 140 countries. GM and its strategic partners produce cars and trucks in 34 countries, and sell and service these vehicles through the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling. GM’s largest national market is the United States, followed by China, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia and Germany. GM’s OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. General Motors Company acquired operations from General Motors Corporation on July 10, 2009, and references to prior periods in this and other press materials refer to operations of the old General Motors Corporation. More information on the new General Motors Company can be found at www.gm.com.

- GM Racing Communications, Press Release

Dale Earnhardt Jr (Photo Credit: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

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.”

- Hendrick Motorsports, Press Release

Dale Earnhardt Jr (Photo Credit: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

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.”

- Hendrick Motorsports, Press Release

2009 Media Tour With Dale Jr.

A FAMILIAR SITE: This weekend’s race will be the first repeat track for crew chief Lance McGrew atop the No. 88 pit box. McGrew spent his first full weekend as the crew chief for the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard team at Pocono Raceway in June.

POCONO POLE POSITION: Earnhardt earned his only Pocono pole position in August 2007 and led eight laps before finishing second. The runner-up effort matched his career-best performance at the Long Pond, Pa., track, which came in July 2001 when he led 31 laps.

LOGGING MILES: At Pocono Raceway, Earnhardt has raced 8,882.5 miles, which is the third-highest total for the 34-year-old driver at any track. For perspective, Earnhardt could make almost eight roundtrips from the Hendrick Motorsports campus in Concord, N.C., to the 2.5-mile triangular track. He has logged more mileage only at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (10,042.5) and Atlanta Motor Speedway (9,842.1).

POCONO CHASSIS: McGrew and the No. 88 engineers will unload Chassis No. 88-556 this weekend at Pocono. It is the first chassis McGrew has built from scratch for Earnhardt and was fielded last weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Earnhardt raced inside the top 10 for a majority of the Brickyard 400, but his strong run was cut short when engine woes sidelined the team 33 laps shy of the checkered flag.

PENNSYLVANIA NATIVES: Four members of the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet team consider the Keystone State home. Spotter T.J. Majors grew up racing dirt tracks in western Pennsylvania and hails from Wampum. Gas man Chris Fasulka (Wilkes-Barre), rear-tire carrier Matt Myers (Ford City) and transporter driver Dave Radney (Canton) also are from Pennsylvania.

HENDRICK AT POCONO: In 50 Cup events (161 starts) at Pocono Raceway, Hendrick Motorsports has scored 11 wins, 48 top-five finishes and 82 top-10s. Hendrick drivers have led 2,510 laps during that time.

ONE-TWO FINISH(ES): Out of Hendrick Motorsports’ eight Cup wins this season, five have involved one-two finishes with its drivers. Hendrick’s drivers have scored the first and second spots at Chicagoland Speedway, Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Michigan International Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway. Overall, Hendrick Motorsports has tallied 27 one-two finishes since first fielding a multi-car team in 1986.

JUST DOWN THE ROAD: PepsiCo’s Purchase, N.Y., headquarters is located 125 miles east of Pocono Raceway. The company, which sponsors Earnhardt’s car with its AMP Energy brand, has been headquartered in Purchase since 1970.

GET ON THE NO. 88: At this year’s AMP Energy 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, thousands of members of JR Nation will see their names on Earnhardt’s No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet as part of the AMP Energy “Get on the 88″ promotion. Race fans can enter by logging onto www.AMPEnergy.com. The first to sign up will see their names on Earnhardt’s car and others will appear on the team’s pit wall banner. Participants will be notified before the Nov. 1 race with a confirmation of where their names landed. This marks the second year of the hugely popular program.

*****

DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER, NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON POCONO.): “Trying to get through the tunnel turn (Turn 2) is about the hardest corner in the whole season. All three corners are really different so getting your car to handle good in all of them is tough to do. But you just focus on trying to get it off the last corner because the straightaway is so long. That basically covers half the racetrack, if you can get around that corner and down the next straightaway.”

LANCE McGREW, INTERIM CREW CHIEF, NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET (ON RETURNING TO POCONO WITH THE NO. 88 TEAM.): “I hate the fact that we had a mechanical issue the first time there because I felt like we had a pretty decent race car but we weren’t able to show it. Because we found the problem after the race, unfortunately, we are going back still with a question mark. If we hadn’t had the problem, I would say, ‘This is a real solid setup and here is where we finished but let’s make tweaks here.’ Well, now I still have questions with our first setup. But I definitely think it’s a plus to go back to somewhere the second time. I just wish I had more answers and less questions.”

McGREW (ON THE CHALLENGES YOU FACE AT POCONO.): “Usually in the second race the track loses a lot of grip just because it’s been so hot. It’s not like that track’s not challenging enough as it is with its three different corners, and there’s multiple problems that you can encounter there. During the second race of the season, you really fight grip, and since we fought grip the first time, that’s an added challenge.”

McGREW (ON THE GROWTH OF THE NO. 88 TEAM.): “I think that we’ve managed to put together pieces and parts at races where our car was really good. We ran three-quarters of the race at Chicago really well; we just have got to figure out a way to close. And that’s happened to us a couple times already this year. I think we’ve put together a string of top-10 cars; we just have not had the string of top-10 finishes.”

- Hendrick Motorsports, Press Release