Dale Jr. says he has the fastest Daytona 500 car

“I don’t know that anybody here has got a car as quick as ours from what I saw (in Saturday’s practices),” Earnhardt said on his “Dale Jr. Download” podcast on Dirty Mo Radio. “We’ve got six more practices this week so guys can find some speed from now until the race time, but out of the box, we were the best in my opinion.”

The No. 88 Nationwide was the fastest Chevrolet SS in Saturday’s first practice, behind four Fords, as well as the sixth-fastest car in the second practice. In Sunday’s Coors Light Pole Qualifying, he turned the 10th-fastest lap, but his time was disallowed after the car didn’t meet the minimum height in post-qualifying inspection.

Earnhardt will start 25th in his Duel, but Majors said on the Dirty Mo Radio podcast said they were in the same position for Saturday’s Sprint Unlimited and made their way to the front pretty quickly.

“Obviously I don’t want to start 24th, but I already started there once (in the Sprint Unlimited) and was leading a few laps later so I don’t want to be back there but I’m pretty confident in our ability to get up through there,” Majors said.

And Earnhardt said his Daytona 500 car is better than the Unlimited ride that took the lead on Lap 27 after coming to pit road second and leading the field back onto the track without taking any tires.

“One of the other things I’m excited about is I know the 500 car is a whole lot better than this car was so hopefully we can get through the rest of the week,” Earnhardt said. “If that 500 car is still in one piece when we put that thing on the starting grid, I’ve got a good feeling about it.

“We’ve got some qualifying races. Got to get through some practices. If we can mount that car on the grid, man, I think it’s going to be a fast one.”

Majors agreed with his driver, saying Earnhardt’s single car reeled in cars in a draft during Daytona 500 practice.

“That car’s fast,” Majors said. “It was actually catching a pack of about four or five cars in one practice.

“I sent him out to make a single-car run. I’m like, ‘He’ll never catch them.’ And I kept timing the interval because you want to stay about seven seconds behind cars to get a clean run. I looked twice, and I’m like ‘he’s not catching ’em.’ So I started timing the interval, and he started creeping in.”

In order for Earnhardt to join Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough and Sterling Marlin as the only drivers to win consecutive Great American Races, Dale Jr. needs to make the it through the Duel. Although he isn’t locked into the field for next Sunday’s season-opening race, if one of the following drivers ahead of him in 2014 owner points — Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski or Matt Kenseth — finishes in the top 15 in a Duel, Earnhardt will advance to the 500.

Rather than relying on his eighth-place spot in last year’s owner points, Earnhardt plans to race his way in. Expect him to run next to the wall.

“When we took off, I jumped on the outside lane and got behind a few guys that were making some good moves,” Earnhardt said of his Sprint Unlimited ride. “We made a couple good moves of our own and next thing you know, I was up there trying to get the lead.”

Majors said that the No. 88 teamed up with the No. 42 last Saturday. With both Earnhardt and Kyle Larson in Thursday’s first Duel, they might get some practice before Sunday’s main event.

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