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GET ER DONE IN MY HOME TOWN
Small changes on tap for 88 after solid final practice
AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s crew chief, Lance McGrew, by necessity, has the ultimate in mechanical minds.
But he's obviously human enough to recognize the value of momentum. And Saturday at Phoenix International Raceway, on the eve of the penultimate race of the season, it was plenty in evidence for their No. 88 Chevrolet crew as they finished preparation for Sunday's Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500.
Happy Hour
Checker O'Reilly 500
Pos. Driver Speed Time
1. J. Johnson 132.348 27.201
2. M. Martin 132.275 27.216
3. Dale Jr. 132.018 27.269
4. M. Truex Jr. 131.878 27.298
5. Ku. Busch 131.868 27.300
6. J. Burton 131.796 27.315
7. J. Gordon 131.772 27.320
8. J. McMurray 131.752 27.324
9. J. Logano 131.695 27.336
10. K. Kahne 131.646 27.346
• Complete Speeds
"You can't put a value on it, it's so important -- it's immeasurable," said McGrew, who a week ago was looking at his driver's first top-five finish in 12 races, or at Michigan in August, when Earnhardt ran out of gas on his way to pit road with less than four laps left in the Dickies 500.
"I'll take complete blame for last week," McGrew said. "Our mileage went away that last run and we ran out of gas a lap-and-a-half before we should have, as we were pitting that lap to get fuel. And we just ran out on remarkably less mileage than we'd gotten all day.
"But I said to him, and he said the same thing after a little while, that you have to pull the positives from that."
And as he talked about it, it was obvious that Texas, though the 25th-place result reflected the norm for the 88 this season, it was so much more. And the team hopes it establishes something this weekend.
"That was, by far, and front to back, the first time we had been competitive, with the top three, four or five cars, all day long," McGrew said. "We haven't been able to do that. We've put together races where we had a portion where we ran there, but we haven't been able to do it all day. And at Texas we did it all day. The last three laps was the only problem we had, and I was pretty excited about that.
"McGrew credited the post-Lowe's NASCAR Banking 500 Goodyear tire test and the data the team accrued, and the communication level he and Junior achieved as the plusses.
"Ultimately we just have to be on top of the setup because generally this place goes with a lot of green-flag laps," McGrew said. "As far as changes, [Sunday] will be different because the race will be during the day. You've got sunshine to deal with, the track's gonna have less grip; some of the things your car did [Saturday] it won't do [Sunday] because practice was overcast.
happy hour
jr was doing great in happy hour...he ended up 3rd...jj 1st...martin 2nd...jr 3rd...i wish he could win...he needs a confidence booster...not to mention what it would do for jr nation...come on jr we want a victory in phoenix...
What the Hell went on here bout Texas
Let me gather my wits and control my Anger............Where were all the fancy engineers on the pit box? First, Jr wanted to pit when Matt did. He told Lance he wanted tires because he knew the others were getting tires making them faster and Lance said no - just a splash and go which didn't happen until the car ran out of fuel, and then of course, there was no GO because it wasn't picking up fuel!!! He stalled going down pit road and sat there for what seemed like a very long time - Jr even asked "Can I get some help here." Where was the team? OTL?
A crew chief should know that you never let the car leave the pit box without fuel pressure. If they had held him until the car had fuel pressure he wouldn't have finished 3 laps down in 25th position, I'm guessing still top 15 or better. And, if they had pitted when they should have the 88 would have finished top 5 for sure!
I will say that earlier the fuel was said to be 5 laps short and they pitted with 7 to go. So, who screwed up? Something was miscalculated somewhere up there on that fancy pit box. Somebody goofed! Is this a case of an inexperienced ex NW CC and/or sloppy work going on atop the box or both? I know they were hoping for a caution and even Jr said there would be one, but if people are doing fuel calculations and there's no caution happening you can't wait so long that you run out coming to pit road.
The car appeared to run well getting as high up as third place.
Let me add here, I see so many people posting "bad luck" which this isn't - just about every parts failure or bad decision we've had is because of human error! Even wrecks are not bad luck but the fault of whoever decided to wreck you or wasn't talented enough to keep from wrecking you. Tums anyone? Bad luck is when you step wrong and fall, lose your wallet etc.
My audio person has disappeared so this is the best I can do regarding the scanner chatter ......... From what I could see there wasn't much chatter anyway. Seems as though quite a bit of this race was single file parade racing again. If JJ wasn't in the garage being helped by all Hendrick personnel including the car chiefs of both the 88 and 24 team the announcers wouldn't have anything to talk about. That reminds me, I was wondering why the 5 didn't send help - lol - are they licking their chops thinking that elusive championship is back within reach. Sort of.
The first words out of Jr's mouth after JJ's wreck were "is the 48 OK?" [Good guy]
There was a caution for debris Jr asks TJ where it was and TJ responds it's probably in the infield. [was that to save Gordon?] People were wondering.
Jr mentions brakes getting hot AGAIN. Who is installing the brakes and why isn't the same happening to the other 3 cars.....don't they all use same parts?
Jr told LM he was pretty disappointed in the brakes the last couple of weeks...LM said no brake dust so he's surprised.
I guess bad things do happen to good people!
Odds & Ends:
David Reutimann doesn't discriminate. Took out Hendrick driver Dale Jr. at New Hampshire, now Johnson at Texas. Good thing his sponsor is Tums next year - he can send boxes to those he wrecks.
From the Gluckometer - thanks Jeff - The most noise at Texas was drawn by Dale Earnhardt Jr., who received a 10 in the cheers category (10 being the most noise, 1 being the least). If anyone thinks Earnhardt Jr.’s popularity is declining, you couldn’t tell it by the cheers at Texas.
And, finally what happened to Shrubbie? He split faster than that B-52 that did the pre-race flyover. A leopard cannot change it's spots even with all the public relations training.
And, DANG IT, he did not make history in winning the trifecta in Texas, how will we ever get over this? What will ABC have to talk about next week? Dare I even think this -> Is he entered in all 3 races again next week? Where's my Advil and my Tums? Maybe Kevin Harvick can beat him to this historical event in Nascar since he's running all 3 races. Please pray to the racing Gods and Sheriff Joe Arpaio that some kind of fate will intercede at Phoenix.
Where's the media? If Jr had made these mistakes, missed pit road, missed his pit etc. they would have been crawling all over it. The fact that HMS made such a crucial error and the pit crew appeared to not know what to do should be worthy of a story or two.
texas
jr qualified 9th...lets hope for a great run sunday...he needs it and his fans need it...to win would be awesome...lets all cross our fingers...toes...whatever we can...lets go racin and get a #88 win...
Kyle Bush's new crew chief (yes it applies)
Not to be snarky, but wasn't it Kyle's contention that Jr. couldn't drive and they always put the blame on the crew chief? So who's the problem in the Busch camp...probably the crew chief right?
Just an observation - see it does pertain to Jr.
Just an observation - see it does pertain to Jr.
McGrew will remain with Jr and the 88
Hendrick Motorsports said Friday at Talladega, Ala., that McGrew will remain with the No. 88 team in 2010. – Associated Press file
Hendrick Motorsports promoted Lance McGrew, who had been Earnhardt’s interim crew chief since May, to the full-time position, effective immediately.
The move brought some much-needed clarity to the future of Earnhardt’s No. 88 Chevrolet team. On Friday, Earnhardt was 17th fastest in final practice. Qualifying is scheduled for 12:15 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday for Sunday’s Amp Energy 500.
As recently as two weeks ago at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Earnhardt expressed frustration and disappointment with his performance and said he had no idea who the leader of his team would be in 2010.
“This is kind of the time of the year where everybody is looking for direction and hoping you can get a lot of momentum at the end of the season,” said McGrew.
“That is kind of what we are trying to do by setting the record down that I am going to be with the team next year and getting everybody pulling in the same direction.”
Since joining the powerhouse Hendrick organization at the beginning of the 2008 season, Earnhardt has seen a few highs and many lows.
He won the season-opening Budweiser Shootout in 2008, the June Cup race at Michigan and made the Chase. But he struggled down the stretch and finished 12th in the series standings.
Earnhardt’s performance took a dive this year. He had seven finishes of 27th or worse in the first 15 races.
The former crew chief, Tony Eury Jr., was reassigned in May when McGrew was brought in on an interim basis. Earnhardt said McGrew didn’t need any coaxing to take the job full time.
“I didn’t convince Lance. I think Lance sees a good race team in front of him. He tells me sincerely that he believes in my talent as a driver and feels like that with the right situation, that we can have a lot of success,” Earnhardt said.
“Being a crew chief is a very, very tough job and very thankless. Lance understands that as well as anyone. I feel confident that he can handle the pressures of the job and I feel confident with him on the box.”
Since McGrew took over, Earnhardt’s on-track performance has improved, but he has been plagued by late-race incidents – not all of his doing – and other issues, such as a broken transmission at Charlotte and multiple tire failures at Martinsville.
“I was really surprised when I first started working with Dale and his confidence was beat down as much as it was; I expected him to be a lot more positive and a lot more understanding of the situation, I guess you’d say,” McGrew said.
“Since then, I’ve definitely seen a light in his eye and a strut in his step as he comes to the car. Like I said, we don’t have the bottom-line finishes to back up what I feel like we’ve started to achieve, but the steps are in place to get there.”
DAle and the CMA Nov 11
Earnhardt Jr. presenting at CMA Awards: #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. will make a pit stop with country's finest when he appears as a presenter at the Nov. 11 Country Music Awards, the Nashville-based CMA tells People Magazine. Earnhardt is part of a round of presenters announced by the CMA for ceremony, which will air on ABC. Others include LeAnn Rimes, Kellie Pickler, Julianne Hough, and nominees Randy Houser (for new artist and video of the year) and Jake Owen (for new artist), along with the network's Robin Roberts and the stars of ABC's Wednesday night comedy The Middle, Patricia Heaton and Neil Flynn
