Home / Nascar / Earnhardt feeling better about title hopes
LOUDON, N.H. (AP)—Look at those standings. For once for the duration of the Chase, it’s Hendrick Motorsports drivers Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon searching up at teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Earnhardt is in fifth place in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship standings, only 13 points ahead of leader Kevin Harvick. Earnhardt, NASCAR’s most popular driver, is three spots ahead of Johnson and six ahead of Gordon.
Earnhardt finished third last week at Chicagoland for his fourth best-five of the season—and ended a five-race skid exactly where he finished no far better than 14th.
“I feel we produced a pretty severe impact last week and we just type of need to have to maintain that momentum going,” Earnhardt said.
Earnhardt finished 15th in NASCAR’s initially stop at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July.
He wanted to create on last week’s finish with a solid qualifying effort and will begin 12th in the No. 88 Chevrolet on Sunday.
His very first-year pairing with Steve Letarte was an instant smash, with the team in contention for various victories earlier this season.
Earnhardt believed he was going to win at Martinsville Speedway until Harvick passed him with four laps left for the win. He settled for second, which started a string of three best-10 finishes. Then came heartbreak at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He led on the final lap ahead of his gas tank ran dry and finished seventh. He followed at Kansas with another second, then sixth at Pocono Raceway.
He fall into a seven-race slump immediately after that and was teetering on the edge of falling out of Chase contention. He held on to enter the 10-race playoff seeded 10th.
Earnhardt has not won because Michigan in June 2008, his very first season with Hendrick Motorsports. Earnhardt’s career-ideal finish in the Sprint Cup standings was third in 2003. Below the Chase format, he finished fifth in 2004 and 2006.
Following missing the Chase the last two seasons, he’s poised to make a legitimate run at his initially Cup championship. Owner Rick Hendrick believes in him, too. Hendrick and Earnhardt agreed earlier this month on a five-year contract extension.
“When Rick makes a commitment like he created with me, it makes you want to go out there and work hard and do the greatest job can,” Earnhardt stated. “Makes you want him to make you proud.”
Winning the championship would do the trick.
“It’s time to put it all out there and see what occurs,” Earnhardt said.
RULE Change: NASCAR’s version of the postseason has brought a tweak of the rules at Talladega Superspeedway.
NASCAR ordered an boost in the size of the restrictor plate that will be utilized in the Oct. 23 race. The bigger holes in the carburetor plates ought to lead to an increase of horsepower that could make the vehicles two to three mph faster.
NASCAR also ordered an adjustment on the pop-off valve in the cooling program that should lower the maximum water temperature in engines. A threat of overheating could stop vehicles from staying hooked together for too lengthy.
The modifications came as component of an effort to limit the two-vehicle tandem racing that has dominated at the track.
“I feel with the new rules, it’s a step to make us pass much more,” Jimmie Johnson stated. “I don’t think we are going to be able to stay connected as long. Any time you put a bigger plate on the vehicles it permits for a larger closing rate with more opportunities to pass with much more energy.”
The larger restrictor plate could push speeds more than 200 mph, but the combination of the pop-off valve alter likely means the vehicles won’t be able to remain locked together for as a lot of laps.
“I don’t feel we’ll be staying together as long we’ll be changing out a lot more usually which could lead to us being in a huge pack like some of the fans want to see,” Johnson stated. “We’ll get down there and see what occurs. I don’t care what the rules are. I learned a long time ago to quit worrying about that stuff. I just go.”
GETS HIS KICKS: Joey Logano hit the track and field this week—the football field.
Logano, of Middletown, Conn., and his Joe Gibbs Racing crew chief Greg Zipadelli, of Berlin, Conn., returned to their northeastern roots on Thursday when they visited the New England Patriots. The paired toured Gillette Stadium, met players and staff and checked out the 3 Super Bowl trophies.
Logano even attempted some field objectives after acquiring recommendations from Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski.
“I’m going to stick to driving race cars and not kicking any time soon,” he said.
OWNER RACES: Michael Waltrip Racing co-owner Rob Kauffman will race the No. 61 AF Corse Ferrari 430 Italia in the Petit Le Mans sports automobile race Oct. 1 at Road Atlanta. Co-drivers Rui Aguas and Justin Bell will join Kauffman for the 1,000-mile, 10-hour endurance classic that serves as a finale to the American Le Mans season.
“Our strategy is to expand our sports auto racing in the United States,” Kauffman stated. “Running in this race is a major step toward that goal.”
Kauffman joined Aguas and MWR co-owner and founder Michael Waltrip at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. Transmission failure ended their race right after 16 hours in the French classic.
Written by chris ? Filed Under Nascar?
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