| | | | | | HANGING IN | Earnhardt Jr. adjusts to changes, grabs fourth at Darlington | |
|  | | CIA Stock Photo | Earnhardt Jr. and his Hendrick Motorsports’ team muscled their way to a top-five finish. | | SceneDaily Staff 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."
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.”
| | Posted May 11, 2008 , 5:45 pm EST
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