Dale Jr.: 'Got plenty of places' for second clock

With four top-six finishes in the first five races of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, Earnhardt credits his consistency to fast No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet SS cars every week.

"The cars are good," Earnhardt said on the "Dale Jr. Download" on Dirty Mo Radio. "It says a lot about the cars themselves when you can get that kind of confidence to be able to drive it in there and be able to do what you want it to."

What he wants to do at Martinsville this weekend is win a second grandfather clock, and he's not worried about finding room for the new timepiece.

"We head to Martinsville," Earnhardt said. "We want to try to go down there and win another clock. I think we've got plenty of places we can put one around here so looking forward to this week."

On Wednesday, Earnhardt celebrated girlfriend Amy Reimann's birthday and let her watch every episode of a Masterpiece Theater series on PBS series.

(Editor's note: May we suggest a visit to the Biltmore mansion in Asheville, North Carolina during the off week for the "Dressing Downton: Changing Fashion for Changing Times" exhibition.)

While the XFINITY Series has its first off-weekend of the season, there's plenty on the plate of Earnhardt's JR Motorsports team. Reigning series champion, Chase Elliott, will attempt his first Sprint Cup Series race in the No. 25 for Hendrick Motorsports.

"Chase is running his first race," Earnhardt said. "A lot of stuff to be excited about so looking forward to the race this weekend."

JRM also will run its first Camping World Truck Series race with 17-year-old Cole Custer. The NASCAR Next talent from Ladera Ranch, California, became the youngest driver to win a national series race when he went to Victory Lane last September at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

"We have a young kid with Cole," Earnhardt said in an excerpt of an interview that can be seen before the Kroger 250 (Saturday, 2 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1). "We have great expectations and a vision for the next several years of what we want to do. Obviously we want to win all the races we enter, but we don't want to put all that pressure on him to go out there and light the world on fire.

"But by all means, if he gets it done, he gets it done. He's got a great opportunity here to pace himself and learn on his own terms and become the driver he wants to be."

Behind the wheel of his Sprint Cup ride, Earnhardt looks forward to putting everything together and getting a win. He'll be driving Chassis No. 88-789, the car that won last October's race at Martinsville.

For now, he's fourth in the standings behind the only three drivers who have finished in the top 10 in each of the first five races: two-time winner Kevin Harvick, Daytona 500 champion Joey Logano and resurgent Martin Truex Jr.

"Hopefully we'll get a good fast car one of these weekends and be the class of the field, and we can get out there and try to win us a race," Earnhardt said. "But until then, these consistent finishes and fast race cars are giving us a lot of confidence. Give us a lot of hope."

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