Earnhardt Jr. adjusts to changes, grabs fourth at Darlington

By SceneDaily Staff

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Article Rating: 3.0
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Jerry Markland / Getty Images for NASCAR

DARLINGTON, S.C. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. found his solid car from Friday a bit more difficult to handle when it came to Saturday night’s Dodge Challenger 500 at Darlington Raceway.

Earnhardt Jr. finished fourth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup race, but he said that his car simply wasn’t as good as it had been in practices Thursday and Friday at the track.

That, it turns out, was because of changes the team made to the car prior to the event.

“We had a real good car all weekend and when the race started, I knew we weren't exactly like we had been,” he said. “[Crew chief] Tony [Eury] Jr. told me right after the race we had changed a lower A-frame and that might have changed how the car rolled over and traveled and stuff and handled.

“We were off a little bit all night, weren't really that good.”

That, coupled with the difficulty in passing created by running NASCAR’s new car on the repaved Darlington surface, made for a long 500 miles.

Still, Earnhardt Jr. and his Hendrick Motorsports’ team muscled their way to a top-five finish. That kept him third in the series standings with eight top-10 finishes – which ties him with Kyle Busch for the most this season in the series.

“Track position was everything; you could not pass, period,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “That was the worst I have ever seen it as far as trying to be able to pass. But, I have to hand it to my team. They worked hard. We worked hard and we finished [in the] top five. I am pretty happy with that."

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He didn’t seem too displeased, though. Earnhardt Jr., in fact, was talking about doing it once more – just with his original Darlington setup.

"Let's line 'em up and go again,” he said. “But I want to set mine up again. We were a little bit off from where we ran all weekend. It wasn't near the same race car.

“But, when you are off and you run fourth, I guess you got to be happy.”

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Comments

5 responses to "Earnhardt Jr. adjusts to changes, grabs fourth at Darlington"
  1. 1
    emily bagwell said:
    May 11, 2008 at 5:07 PM

    I want Junior to win very badly as Iam sure he wants this much more;however, I wish he would get some of the pressure off himself because he just makes for the only reason I continue to watch races on T.V. and to travel to tracks. I'm a bit vexed with Tony, Jr. Hang tough, Junior---there will be another race! A dedicated fan

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  2. 2
    Steve Durrough said:
    May 11, 2008 at 7:59 PM

    It's ashame that Eury Jr. would change the setup behind Dale's back after he was happy with practice.

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  3. 3
    Timothy Schultze said:
    May 11, 2008 at 9:01 PM

    Eury is the crew chief it has been repeatedly that dale Jr will make the calls from the car only to make it worse maybe the the a frame that was change to put more adjust-ability into the car and dale Jr just could not tell what it needed fast enough to keep up with the track That team as a hole EVEN AT DEI have NEVER been able to make a car better once it starts to go bad un like there team mates at times.Kind of like Kasey Kahne if its good from the start there fine if not they can not make it better,

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  4. 4
    Tim Edick said:
    May 12, 2008 at 4:54 PM

    Man, is anyone else tired of hearing Jr. whine? Last week it was a racing thing but why is always poor me. This week it's the worst car I've EVER driven. But excuse me didn't you finish fourth? He blamed DEI for his problems before so how long before he blames Hendricks?

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  5. 5
    Tim Edick said:
    May 12, 2008 at 4:58 PM

    Face it fans. Jr. is still Jr. He still has the same crew chief as always, and has the same driving technique as always. He's has better equiptment now and still can't win. Maybe it time to change crew chiefs or better yet his driving style. He will never be his Dad but all you fans want him to be. Just realize please that he's good, not great!

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