Dale Earnhardt Jr. shoots for his sixth career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win at Talladega Superspeedway in Sunday's AMP Energy 500 and an opportunity to climb up the Chase standings.
Earnhardt is looking to get back his restrictor plate magic which has been difficult for everyone to harness since the introduction of the new Sprint Cup car.
"Well, you continue to learn how the car drafts," Earnhardt said. "It drafts a little bit differently. You can do things a little bit differently with the way the car's bumpers match up. You can draft a little bit harder with each other through the corner, all the way around the racetrack."
That has led to a new plan of attack.
"Hopefully as long as NASCAR doesn't mind and get too nervous, we'll be pushing each other all the way around the racetrack this weekend, just like we were last time," Earnhardt explained. "You'll see guys jump out, two guys get out 25 car lengths in front of the pack. It's really worthless because the pack just runs you back down. But it's fun. Something new to do so we're all doing it."
In addition to trying to get his second win of the season and help his cause in the Chase, the Talladega weekend is also a marketing dream for Earnhardt as his primary sponsor AMP Energy backs Sunday's race.
Earnhardt Jr. will also race a special "Ride with Dale Jr." special AMP paint scheme in the 188-lap event. More than 70,000 names in 13-point font will adorn the No. 88 Chevy. Hendrick Motorsports graphics director Jim Gravlin spent almost 80 hours developing a stencil for the wrap by hand and then used his computer to place the names. The entire project, which required five test trials, took roughly 200 hours to complete.
"This has been a good track for us," Earnhardt said. "Always run good there. Got a lot of fans there. We're going to have a special paint scheme with all the fans that signed into the promotional deal with Amp. All their names will be on the car, about 70,000 names. We're pretty excited about that."
But it doesn't take much to get excited about racing at the Alabama speedplant.
"Well, to me it's special," he said. "I don't think everyone gets that sensation going into the race. But to me it's a pretty important place just 'cause my family's done so well there. And the way the fans treat us there make it exciting, make it a place you look forward to. I think that's probably the biggest key, the fans and how they've treated us at that track. It really gets you excited when it's coming up on the schedule."
