Earnhardt Jr. expecting strong showing at Atlanta

By Rea White - Associate Editor
Thursday, March 06, 2008

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is back in the top 10 in the standings and eager for Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Earnhardt Jr. moved into the top 10 in the series standings after finishing second at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last Sunday and says that Atlanta is a place where he likes to race. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has 17 Cup starts at Atlanta, with one win, one pole, seven top-five and nine top-10 finishes there.

Now, he's looking to add to that tally with a team that is accustomed to performing well at this 1.5-mile track. The last time Hendrick Motorsports - which fields Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Casey Mears this season – failed to have at least one driver in the top-10 in an Atlanta race was Nov. 21, 1999. In the 16 Cup races since, the organization has had at least one driver finish in the top 10.

The combination of Earnhardt Jr. and Hendrick could reap benefits for both this weekend.

"My daddy always ran good there, so I focused on that fact," Earnhardt Jr. said of Atlanta. "… You could always count on him running up front at Atlanta. I think I liked the track before I ever raced on it. I assumed I would appreciate it and would like driving on it – and I do. Plus [crew chief] Tony [Eury] Jr.'s style of setting up a car fits that track good. It has helped me a lot."

Eury Jr. said he expects this weekend to be a race where the teams pit often for tires, especially with the colder weather that is in the forecast. Still, he gets to head to the track with a team that regained some moment last week after being involved in an early crash at California and then had to stay overnight for a second day of rain-delayed racing despite the fact that the car was already 41 laps off the pace.

"That was a great day for us after what happened in California," he said of the Las Vegas race. "We needed a boost like that. Junior wanted to win that thing so bad for all of us, but we'll take it when we can move up like that [in points]. It was a good day."

Mentioned Drivers: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

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2009 Sprint Cup Race for the Chase Standings

Driver Standings after the AMP Energy 500

1 Jimmie Johnson 6248
2 Mark Martin -184
3 Jeff Gordon -192
4 Juan Pablo Montoya -239
5 Tony Stewart -279
6 Kurt Busch -312
7 Greg Biffle -340
8 Ryan Newman -402
9 Kasey Kahne -414
10 Carl Edwards -437
11 Denny Hamlin -448
12 Brian Vickers -556

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