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YOUR Homestead-Miami Speedway hasn’t been very kind to Dale Earnhardt Jr., but neither has the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.
So as the Hendrick Motorsports driver prepares for Sunday’s season finale at Homestead, he hopes to accomplish two things: Improve his performance at the south Florida track and finish an otherwise disappointing campaign on a strong note.
Earnhardt Jr.’s best finish at Homestead – 13th in this rookie season of 2000 – came while driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc. and before the track was reconfigured in 2003 to include additional banking in the turns.
"I haven't had the best results at Homestead since they reconfigured the track, but, hopefully, with [crew chief] Lance [McGrew] we can improve on that,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “You really have to hunt for the best line there. The corners are real tight, and the car doesn't want to turn and roll through the center like you would expect it to.
“We always seem to get tight through the center there. We've had some good runs here lately, and, hopefully, we can end the season on a positive note."
As McGrew looks to Sunday’s Ford 400, his goal for the No. 88 team is rather straightforward: run well and finish well.
“Just a good, consistent run,” he said of what the team hopes to accomplish. “It doesn't have to be first or third. It could be that we qualified in the top 10, we ran in the top 10 all day, and we finished sixth.
“I would like to see the race start and end the same way, just to show that we can do it. I would like to see some consistency throughout the event."
Despite showing flashes of improvement since McGrew replaced crew chief Tony Eury Jr. in late May, Earnhardt Jr. has still struggled to find the finishes and consistency that he wants. In 23 starts with McGrew calling the shots, NASCAR’s most popular driver has just a pair of top-10s.
He is 24th in the standings after an accident in last weekend’s race at Phoenix International Raceway. So looking ahead to the offseason, McGrew wants to quickly begin laying the groundwork for a better 2010.
"I think the first thing that you have to do is try to put your pieces in place for next year as quick as you can,” said McGrew, who was named Earnhardt Jr.’s full-time crew chief on Oct. 30 after initially serving in an interim role. “Because the longer the teams work together, the guys get more familiar with each other, and everybody knows their role and position. Just like any other job, with repetition comes speed in how you do things.
“We need to put those guys in place as quick as we can so all of the positions are set up. Then when we have a chance to do a little bit of offseason testing - a little bit of this, a little bit of that - we can evaluate all of our people."
YOUR Homestead-Miami Speedway hasn’t been very kind to Dale Earnhardt Jr., but neither has the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.
So as the Hendrick Motorsports driver prepares for Sunday’s season finale at Homestead, he hopes to accomplish two things: Improve his performance at the south Florida track and finish an otherwise disappointing campaign on a strong note.
Earnhardt Jr.’s best finish at Homestead – 13th in this rookie season of 2000 – came while driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc. and before the track was reconfigured in 2003 to include additional banking in the turns.
"I haven't had the best results at Homestead since they reconfigured the track, but, hopefully, with [crew chief] Lance [McGrew] we can improve on that,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “You really have to hunt for the best line there. The corners are real tight, and the car doesn't want to turn and roll through the center like you would expect it to.
“We always seem to get tight through the center there. We've had some good runs here lately, and, hopefully, we can end the season on a positive note."
As McGrew looks to Sunday’s Ford 400, his goal for the No. 88 team is rather straightforward: run well and finish well.
“Just a good, consistent run,” he said of what the team hopes to accomplish. “It doesn't have to be first or third. It could be that we qualified in the top 10, we ran in the top 10 all day, and we finished sixth.
“I would like to see the race start and end the same way, just to show that we can do it. I would like to see some consistency throughout the event."
Despite showing flashes of improvement since McGrew replaced crew chief Tony Eury Jr. in late May, Earnhardt Jr. has still struggled to find the finishes and consistency that he wants. In 23 starts with McGrew calling the shots, NASCAR’s most popular driver has just a pair of top-10s.
He is 24th in the standings after an accident in last weekend’s race at Phoenix International Raceway. So looking ahead to the offseason, McGrew wants to quickly begin laying the groundwork for a better 2010.
"I think the first thing that you have to do is try to put your pieces in place for next year as quick as you can,” said McGrew, who was named Earnhardt Jr.’s full-time crew chief on Oct. 30 after initially serving in an interim role. “Because the longer the teams work together, the guys get more familiar with each other, and everybody knows their role and position. Just like any other job, with repetition comes speed in how you do things.
“We need to put those guys in place as quick as we can so all of the positions are set up. Then when we have a chance to do a little bit of offseason testing - a little bit of this, a little bit of that - we can evaluate all of our people."
