Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, prepares to practice for the 59th Annual DAYTONA 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 25, 2017 in Daytona Beach, Florida. Photo – Sean Gardner/Getty Images
In Saturday’s final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran 30 laps at Daytona International Speedway, second only to the 36 posted by Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne.
The No. 88 team changed from a qualifying engine to the race engine after practice on Friday, a practice customary at the Daytona 500. But Earnhardt found his car less responsive with the new engine; in addition, the car developed a slight vibration that led to the team changing drive shafts in the car.
“We change the motor and went to the race engine today, took the qualifying motor out last night,” Earnhardt explained. “I thought our car was a little better yesterday in practice. In the pack, it would develop runs a little bit better. It just seemed like I had to get a little luckier today with what was happening behind me, where yesterday the car would do some things or develop some things kind of on its own.
“The thing about that is every time you get out there—you might not even change anything—it just depends on what kind of pack you get in, what kind of cars are around you, and your car’s performance can change and kind of fool you a little bit. I’m just hoping that today was a little more laid back, not quite as many cars out there, not quite as active in the draft, and maybe that’s why we didn’t see our car respond like it did yesterday.”
The vibration was of particular concern.
“You worry about that, because any kind of thing that is out of balance is going to hurt that straight-line speed,” Earnhardt said. “We tried to work on that and were able to fix it right there on that last run. It’s just simple stuff like flipping drive shafts and things like that.
“You want to get all that out of there so you don’t have any doubts about anything holding your car back. Otherwise, it’s been really uneventful. We haven’t had any issues or problems with the car mechanically, and nothing happened on the race track, so it looks like we are going to get this thing on the grid tomorrow and ready to go.”
The change in drive shafts won’t affect Earnhardt’s second-place starting position on Sunday.