Dale Earnhardt Jr. said that despite, all the emotions surrounding the tenth anniversary of the death of his father at Daytona, his focus is fixed on winning the Daytona 500.
He also hopes to end a victory drought going back to the June 2008 Michigan race. With new crew chief, Steve LeTarte, he won the pole for next Sunday’s race and teammate, Jeff Gordon will start alongside him on the front row.
"I'm here to race. I understand the situation. I'm looking forward to seeing how my father's remembered and honored throughout the week. I'll enjoy that. I don't really get into the hypothetical, fairytale sort of stuff,” he said.
Turning a lap of 186.089 mph in single-car qualifying, Earnhardt Jr. the son of the late NASCAR legend, Dale Earnhardt, edged Gordon (at 185.966 mph) for the pole. Both drove Chevrolets entered by Hendrick Motorsports.
“We’re fired up,” said Earnhardt Jr. adding “the guys working at Hendrick built some awesome cars. We got the front row again, for the second year in a row. We’re real proud of it.”
Ironically, although Earnhardt Jr. has had success at the, newly re-paved, 2.5 mile high-banked tri-oval - winning the Daytona 500 in 2004 and runner-up last year; this is the tenth anniversary of the death of his father here on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.
Qualifying speeds were almost 20mph slower than the 206 mph attained in Saturday night’s Shoot Out because the race cars could not take advantage of the two-car tandem, called the draft, where two or more cars running together are faster than one car running by itself.
The fastest ever official lap at Daytona was 210.364 mph, set by Bill Elliott during qualifying for the 1987 Daytona 500.
However speeds have not approached that level since Bobby Allison's car flew into a catch fence at Talladega at similar speeds that May.
NASCAR responded by ordering restrictor plates on race car carburetors to keep speeds below the 200mph mark.
On Sunday afternoon NASCAR issued a technical bulletin regarding radiator relief valves and reducing the size of the front grill to make it more difficult for two-car bumper-to-bumper drafting to go on for more than one or two laps. When the cars run like that overheating becomes a problem.
NASCAR officials say that they will monitor Wednesday’s practice and possibly make more changes.
Under unique Daytona 500 qualifying rules only the fastest two cars are locked into the 43-car field. Twin 150-mile qualifying races on Thursday will then set the remainder of the 43-car field for the 53rd running of what is also known as the "Great American Race" on Sunday February 20th.
He also hopes to end a victory drought going back to the June 2008 Michigan race. With new crew chief, Steve LeTarte, he won the pole for next Sunday’s race and teammate, Jeff Gordon will start alongside him on the front row.
"I'm here to race. I understand the situation. I'm looking forward to seeing how my father's remembered and honored throughout the week. I'll enjoy that. I don't really get into the hypothetical, fairytale sort of stuff,” he said.
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| (Photo: nascar.com) |
Turning a lap of 186.089 mph in single-car qualifying, Earnhardt Jr. the son of the late NASCAR legend, Dale Earnhardt, edged Gordon (at 185.966 mph) for the pole. Both drove Chevrolets entered by Hendrick Motorsports.
“We’re fired up,” said Earnhardt Jr. adding “the guys working at Hendrick built some awesome cars. We got the front row again, for the second year in a row. We’re real proud of it.”
Ironically, although Earnhardt Jr. has had success at the, newly re-paved, 2.5 mile high-banked tri-oval - winning the Daytona 500 in 2004 and runner-up last year; this is the tenth anniversary of the death of his father here on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.
Qualifying speeds were almost 20mph slower than the 206 mph attained in Saturday night’s Shoot Out because the race cars could not take advantage of the two-car tandem, called the draft, where two or more cars running together are faster than one car running by itself.
The fastest ever official lap at Daytona was 210.364 mph, set by Bill Elliott during qualifying for the 1987 Daytona 500.
However speeds have not approached that level since Bobby Allison's car flew into a catch fence at Talladega at similar speeds that May.
NASCAR responded by ordering restrictor plates on race car carburetors to keep speeds below the 200mph mark.
On Sunday afternoon NASCAR issued a technical bulletin regarding radiator relief valves and reducing the size of the front grill to make it more difficult for two-car bumper-to-bumper drafting to go on for more than one or two laps. When the cars run like that overheating becomes a problem.
NASCAR officials say that they will monitor Wednesday’s practice and possibly make more changes.
Under unique Daytona 500 qualifying rules only the fastest two cars are locked into the 43-car field. Twin 150-mile qualifying races on Thursday will then set the remainder of the 43-car field for the 53rd running of what is also known as the "Great American Race" on Sunday February 20th.