Tag Archives: Dale Earnhardt Jr

NASCAR XFINITY Series PowerShares 300 at Daytona Preview

Posted on by

NASCAR XFINITY Series teams will race 300 miles over 120 laps in the PowerShares QQQ 300 at Daytona International Speedway Saturday, February 25, 2017. FOX Sports 1 coverage begins at 3 pm ET with the green flag around 3:30 pm ET. Radio coverage is on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Joe Gibbs Racing Goes for Six – After capturing its fifth NASCAR XFINITY Series owner title last season (2008, ’09, ’10, ’12 and ’16) the JGR organization immediately turned its attention to number six. This season Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, Matt Tifft and Daniel Suarez will contribute to the owner title winning cause. Jones, Tifft and Suarez will be competing this weekend at Daytona. Gibbs has four NASCAR XFINITY Series Daytona wins, but only once in the season opener (Tony Stewart, 2008). Continue reading →

Passion to Race Drives Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Return to the Track

Posted on by

Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, stands on the grid during qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 59th Annual DAYTONA 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 19, 2017 in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Photo – Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Dale Earnhardt Jr. felt “wobbly” and didn’t know why.

In his motor coach last July at Kentucky Speedway, Earnhardt felt the first hint of the concussion symptoms that would keep him out of the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for the last half of the 2016 season.

He voiced his concerns to fiancée Amy Reimann. Continue reading →

Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin Win Action-Filled Can-Am Duel Qualifying Races

Posted on by

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Daytona 500 pole winner Chase Elliott put an exclamation on his qualifying effort with a victory in Thursday night’s first Can-Am Duel at Daytona International Speedway.

Elliott passed second-place starter Brad Keselowski for the lead on lap 37 and held it the rest of the way—through a wreck that altered the positions of the two Open Team drivers trying to race their way into the field for the 59th running of the Great American Race.

In the second Duel, defending Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin got a huge push from Austin Dillon and passed Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the next-to-last lap to win the race by 0.214 seconds over Clint Bowyer, who was competing for the first time in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Continue reading →

Would a Championship also be a Retirement Party for Earnhardt?

Posted on by

Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, speaks with the media during the Daytona 500 Media Day at Daytona International Speedway on February 22, 2017 in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Photo – Jerry Markland/Getty Images

Why would the legion of fans in Earnhardt Nation have mixed feelings about Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning a long-awaited Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship this season?

Because Earnhardt said on Wednesday during Daytona 500 media day that he’s likely to retire from racing if he wins the title this year, especially after all the rehabilitation work he’s done to overcome the effects of a concussion that caused him to miss the last 18 races of the 2016 season. Continue reading →

Chase Elliott edges Dale Earnhardt Jr. for Daytona 500 pole

Posted on by

Chase Elliott, driver of the #24 NAPA Chevrolet, celebrates in Victory Lane after qualifying for pole position for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 59th Annual DAYTONA 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 19, 2017 in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Photo – Jared C Tilton/Getty Images

Winning back-to-back Daytona 500 poles is something of a family tradition, as Chase Elliott proved by the skin of his teeth on Sunday at Daytona International Speedway.

The last driver to take a lap in the second and final round of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at the 2.5-mile superspeedway, Elliott covered the distance in 46.663 seconds (192.872 mph) to edge Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. by 0.002 seconds.

The pole was the second straight for Elliott, who led the field to green last year as a Sunoco rookie. It was the third straight for Elliott’s crew chief, Alan Gustafson, who won the pole with driver Jeff Gordon in 2015 in Gordon’s last year as a full-time driver.

With three straight poles as a crew, Gustafson shares a record previously held solely by Ernie Elliott, Chase Elliott’s uncle, who fielded cars driven by former Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Bill Elliott, Chase’s father. Continue reading →