Finally, Junior gets in a Hendrick Motorsports car

By Bob Pockrass

Monday, October 29, 2007

DAVID GRIFFIN / NASCAR SCENE

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HAMPTON, Ga. - More than four months after signing with team owner Rick Hendrick, Dale Earnhardt Jr. actually got to drive a Hendrick Motorsports car during a test Monday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

It technically was the second time Earnhardt Jr. was in a Hendrick car. The Dale Earnhardt Inc. driver had raced one for about nine laps earlier this year at Texas Motor Speedway after Kyle Busch had thought his damaged car wouldn't return to action and had left the track.

"I was just really surprised [in April] at how well the car turned and how well the front-end worked, and that's the same thing I thought this morning," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I'm really amazed at how smoothly and how well it turned.

"It's been wild how this all has worked out and how much attention it got and how hard some of it was and how much fun some of it was. As exciting as it is, I don't want to go and do it again. Hopefully, we'll have a great time at Rick's and he'll keep me as long as I want to drive. "

Earnhardt Jr. wore a uniform with adidas, one of his personal sponsors, on the front because current sponsor Budweiser and future sponsor Amp Energy Drink (from the makers of Pepsi) are competitors.

He was reunited with crew chief Tony Eury Jr., who left DEI three weeks before the test to get ready for next season for a team that likely this year is on its way to winning a seventh championship in the last 13 years.

"The cars, equipment, the pieces, the pieces of all that are the same," Earnhardt Jr. said. "It's just maybe Hendrick does a better job at being organized with it. They have more success. There's some things that are different, obviously, but I'm not aware of them yet.

"Tony, Jr., he's going to make sure the cars are comfortable. That really should be a non-issue, just getting the cars to do right, drive right. The challenge is just going to be getting to know everybody."

The 33-year-old Earnhardt Jr. wasn't all that excited to be testing a car a day after a long race weekend but the circumstances got him pumped.

"I was excited," said Earnhardt Jr., who will drive the No. 88 next season, his first Cup races that won't be under the Dale Earnhardt Inc. "Rick [Hendrick] is going to be here any time. I'm excited to see him. I'm excited to watch Tony, Jr. work with the new guys.

"I'm excited to see the expressions on their face, their mannerisms, their attitude about the whole thing. ... I was looking forward to that waking up this morning, but I knew the physical testing part of it would be relatively as boring as it always is."

Driving Earnhardt's No. 8 car at the test was Regan Smith, who won't even drive that car next season. Regan Smith will drive DEI's No. 01 while Mark Maritn and Aric Almirola will share the No. 8. Martin was in the No. 01 because that will be the crew he will work with next season, while Smith will work with the current No. 8 crew.

"I seen it down in the garage," Earnhardt Jr. said. "It's a unique situation to see it down in the garage. I don't know who's driving today. Is Mark driving today?"

Earnhardt Jr. was then told that Smith was driving.

"Well, I ... hope they're there learning and doing," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I'm sure the car is going to be a rocket ship. It was yesterday [in the race]."

Earnhardt Jr. wasn't the only driver with his 2008 team at the two-day test. Among the others were Kyle Busch (going from Hendrick to Joe Gibbs Racing), J.J. Yeley (from JGR to Hall of Fame Racing) and Scott Riggs (from Valvoline Evernham Racing to Haas CNC Racing). Dario Franchitti and Jacques Villeneuve, open-wheel stars who will compete on the circuit fulltime for next season also tested, while Sam Hornish Jr. did not.

Busch has driven the No. 5 car for most of his career.

"It felt good to actually pass it," Busch said with a laugh. "To me, it doesn't bother me. A number is a number. For me, it's sad. You miss the guys and working with them for three years. Sometimes there are bigger, better, badder things elsewhere."