Chase, points won't alter No. 88 driver's restrictor plate strategy
TALLADEGA, Ala. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. is well aware of the expectations he carries into Talladega Superspeedway twice a year. These are his grandstands, his Nation, his personal playground.
The roar of adoration every lap Junior leads echoes through the foothills surrounding this track, and with 832 laps out front here, it's been a loud and constant refrain. But, it's been 11 l-o-n-g years (October, 2004) since Talladega's crown prince last won a Cup trophy here.
"I feel like it's a real disappointment for a lot of people when we don't finish well and if we are not up in the battle trying at the end,'' Earnhardt said. "If we are not in that group crossing the finish line that is up front, I feel that disappointment from all the supporters of our team, more so here and at Daytona than other race tracks for sure.''
Earnhardt will start his No. 88 Nationwide Chevy fourth in Sunday's GEICO 500 (1 p.m., FOX), trying to win for the sixth time in a Cup race here.
A year ago Earnhardt came into this race already qualified for the Chase for the Sprint Cup thanks to a victory in the season-opening Daytona 500. Interestingly though, he says his strategy for Sunday isn't much different than last May when his postseason already had been decided.
"We will just try to be a little more aggressive I guess to try to win Sunday,'' Earnhardt said. "We don't have anything to lose."
"I don't expect there to be 16 winners. I believe we are good enough to get in (the Chase) in one of those last positions by points. I'm not really nervous.
"I feel like I can go out there and be as aggressive as I want to be and take some chances and see what happens. So I don't feel like that points or the Chase or anything will be in the back of my mind bugging me or buzzing around. I can go out there and do what I need to do and enjoy myself.''
Contrary to what you'd think based on his success on superspeedways, Earnhardt says "I love short track racing … love Bristol and Martinsville the most."
But there's no denying his ability at the other end of the spectrum.
With eight restrictor plate wins – 11 top 3s at Daytona alone and a string of four consecutive Talladega wins from 2001-2003 (five in a span of seven races), Earnhardt is considered one of the best in this genre and he shared a little about his mindset during races.
"You've got to be in the top-three all day long to expect to be in the top three in the end when it counts,'' Earnhardt said. "If you get shuffled out, it's so hard to pass these people with this kind of car, we sit there in two lines, the bottom and the middle. And you aren't going to jump out there by yourself and go around them.
"So you've sort of got to sit there in line and hopefully some dummy pulls out and he gets shuffled back,'' Earnhardt said laughing. "Hopefully that happens a lot and you end up toward the front."