Earnhardt Jr. says winning the Allstate 400 would be special
Dale Earnhardt Jr. won NASCAR’s biggest race in 2004 with his triumph in the Daytona 500.
Will a victory in the Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, considered by many to be NASCAR’s second-biggest race, be next?
Earnhardt Jr. hopes so.
On Sunday, he will make his ninth start at Indy but his first there for Hendrick Motorsports.
In 14 races at the 2.5-mile track, the organization has posted five wins, 13 top-five finishes and 21 top-10s. Its drivers have led 537 laps and recorded three pole positions.
Sunday may be Earnhardt Jr.’s best shot yet to break into victory lane at the facility where his father, the late Dale Earnhardt, scored a victory in 1995.
“The Brickyard is a special race,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “A bunch of famous drivers have won there, and there's a ton of history. I'm big into the history of this sport. The track was one of the first to gain international recognition for its races. ... Winning would be cool because there is so much prestige. It would be special for the team and for me. It's a top-five track as far as places I want to win at over the course of my career."
Besides making his first Indy start in Hendrick equipment, there’s another potential plus for Earnhardt Jr. entering Sunday’s race: He took part in a two-day Goodyear tire test at the track in April.
Information gathered from the session could help Earnhardt Jr. this weekend.
“The attitude and everything was the biggest thing we learned at the tire test,” crew chief Tony Eury Jr. said. “The tires were wearing out after maybe 15 laps so you really didn't get a long run. But we felt like we were one of the better cars there. Anytime you can get on the track at Indy and you can get your aero-attitude kind of baselined out, it's going to be a huge advantage for us.”
Data from the test could also benefit Hendrick drivers Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Casey Mears.
"We definitely got some files and stuff to share with our teammates,” Eury Jr. said. “That test taught us a lot, and we've learned a lot since, so we've really got to buckle down. In all honesty, the car was really good, and Dale Jr. was happy with it when we were there."
As with his driver, a victory at Indianapolis would be particularly meaningful for Eury Jr.
“It would be a very huge thing to win at Indy,” he said. “There's so much history there. Drivers like A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti have won races at the track, so it kind of puts you in the middle of the motorsports hall of fame. It's real unique to go over there and walk around that [Indianapolis Motor Speedway] museum and go down in the basement and see how far technology has come on the Indy side of it - not just the stock car side of it. Just to see the way racing has come over the years from what they used to race is pretty amazing."
