Winning at New Hampshire? There’s no one way

Posted on September 21, 2017September 21, 2017 by Staff Report

Heading into the second playoff race this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway the question is simple: How do you win at the “Magic Mile?”

If you’re Matt Kenseth, the answer is equally as simple and laced in his classic dry humor – you just finish ahead of the 39 other drivers in the field. But for some of the other drivers in the postseason, there really doesn’t seem to be one way in which you can claim the Loudon lobster.

Take a look at the video above and count the ways to find success in Sunday’s ISM Connect 300 (2 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on September 21, 2017October 23, 2017 by Zack Albert

CONCORD, N.C. — For a NASCAR pit crew, there’s a degree of pleasure to be found in putting all the choreography together and rattling off a lightning-fast pit stop. It’s a level of satisfaction that Chip Ganassi Racing’s group of athletes know well.

CGR’s No. 42 crew found that sweet spot earlier this month, making quick work of the final service for Kyle Larson and providing the difference-making track position that won the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series regular-season finale at Richmond Raceway.

Then there’s the impact that goes beyond four fresh tires and fuel. It’s why Ganassi pit crew coach Shaun Peet took time out of the team’s Tuesday morning huddle — before the pep talk in the heat of the NASCAR Playoffs — to read a note of appreciation that made its way to his inbox after last weekend’s postseason opener.

“I wanted to take the time to thank you for the way I was treated this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway,” the letter began, written by a fan who serves as a teacher of special needs children and who spent time interacting with the Ganassi crew before and after the race. The note continued, “The smile on his face and the excitement in his voice is something I rarely see from him. This is something both of us will never forget.”

The sentiment moved Peet to share the appreciation with his crew before the over-the-wall reps began.

“So it’s great when our pit crews do great, but that’s the stuff for us that transcends this whole thing, right?” Peet said. “We’re lucky. Our philosophy is we’re going to win with good people here. …

“If they can affect lives positively while in this sport, for us as coaches, that goes beyond them pitting a race car in 10 seconds. We’re really proud of this group. We feel like we have 30 great human beings here.”

***

So how does a scrapper of a hockey player from a blue-collar logging town in Canada land in NASCAR, graduating with a double major from an Ivy League university along the way?

“Completely by accident,” Peet says.

And that’s how a whale of an ‘all things happen for a reason’ story comes to pass. In the fall of 2001, Peet had been sent down from the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Triple-A affiliate to the Greensboro (North Carolina) Generals. Already unhappy with the demotion down the minor-league hockey ladder, the then-26-year-old defenseman reached a turning point, goaded into a fight by a pesky player from the opposing Reading Royals.

“The first inkling that I knew I was in trouble was our team idiot was already kicked out,” Peet says now, reflecting back on his role in the escalating hostilities that led to what East Coast Hockey League officials called the worst brawl in the association’s history. “Big trouble” was how the so-called team idiot termed it, and he was right. Penalty minutes were handed out like Halloween candy, and Peet was suspended for 18 games, a quarter of the team’s season.

From there, the chain of events forms a serendipitous string. There’s the chance meeting with a NASCAR fan in the coliseum stands while serving his suspension, the casual visit to a race shop where he earned an impromptu tryout as a jack man, the eventual job with the Keselowskis, car owner Bill Davis and eventually Chip Ganassi Racing.

“I didn’t even know what NASCAR was,” Peet says. “And here, 14 years later, I’ve enjoyed it all.”

The Charlotte area where Peet wound up is a long way from his hometown of Nanaimo, a harbor city on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. But it’s also a good distance from Dartmouth, where he played collegiate hockey and earned his degree with concentrations on psychology and sociology — majors that have served him well in managing the many personalities on the team.

His transition drew recognition from the school’s alumni magazine, in a feature akin to Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the Crowd” segment. One picture lauded a physician’s achievement in medicine; the second, a Naval officer recognized for his outstanding accomplishments as a pilot. “And then the third picture was me running around a race car,” he said with a laugh.

“I never thought I’d be here, but I’m glad I am,” Peet says. “I really, truly feel like I haven’t worked a day in my life.”

***

The mood at Tuesday’s pit practice after the Chicagoland race is decidedly light. Upbeat songs blare as the test mule Chevrolet — marked with a No. 42 on the driver’s side and a No. 1 on the other to represent both teams — pulls in for practice stops. “Five yards per carry, baby!” one crewman shouts over the music, making a nod to the football background of many team members.

It’s a collegial group with regular words of encouragement, but underneath, there’s determination and drive that push them to be better. A small “Wheel of Fortune” style wheel adorns a pit box, indicating which crew is next up in the pit-stop rotation. Elimination-style tournaments determine weekly winners for a larger, quarterly tote board. It’s all meant to promote an internal spirit of competition, a means of figuratively sharpening the sword to face off with 38 other pit crews on race day.

“Every once in a while, I get to work out with the guys and it’s pretty interesting — it doesn’t matter what they’re doing, they’re still competitive,” says Matt McCall, crew chief for Jamie McMurray’s No. 1 Chevy. “It’s a race — no matter what you’re doing — to be the best.”

After each practice stop, the crews huddle to review replays, receiving immediate feedback on their routine. Mike Metcalf — a pit coach who doubles as gas man for Kyle Larson’s No. 42 — says breaking down film is an old-school touch adapted for the current generation — a more visual, screen-dependent group.

While Metcalf and Peet will still make minor adjustments to fine-tune their crews’ technique, Chip Ganassi Racing plans no wholesale changes for the playoffs. The emphasis on fundamental skills — a focus drilled into the team since before the season began — remains the primary goal.

“You reap what you sow, and these guys have worked their guts out for nine months and they’re ready to go,” Peet says. “The hay’s in the barn and you’re going to see the result of that effort over the next nine weeks. So for us, it’s not hard. It’s just keeping it on course and letting them do what they do.”

Says Metcalf, a former fullback during his football days at Appalachian State: “Our pressure, the serious stuff, we started that months ago. We’re already ready for it.”

***

“I’m just thankful that Shaun Peet’s better at this than he was hockey.”

Chad Johnston, Larson’s crew chief, delivers that faint praise with a smirk. But in another breath, he applauds the job the coaching staff has done to build a stealthy-good over-the-wall corps.

If there’s any sort of pressure in the postseason, it doesn’t show in the ambiance before, during and after pit-stop practice. After the series of stops, the team takes turns shooting long-distance shots then chasing down rebounds at the basketball hoop in CGR’s back parking lot.

Those breaks in the day are part of the more elaborately planned activities during the season. The team members commemorate opening day of the Major League Baseball season with a Wiffle Ball tournament. Canada Day comes along on July 1, providing Peet a chance to celebrate his roots with a hockey tourney on a makeshift rink on the grounds, made out of racing tires.

The extracurriculars have all helped to create a family-style atmosphere and support system among a group of athletes from all sorts of cultural and geographical backgrounds. The common thread, beneath all the fun times and the well-fueled competition, is an enduring code of character.

“The thing I’m most proud of is the quality of human beings we’ve got in this program,” Peet says. “One of the big things we keep getting back from the people we talk to is, ‘wow, you have a really diverse group.’ The funny thing is, we’re not. Visually, we look diverse, but every single one of our guys is hard-working, has a ton of integrity, cares deeply about their family, cares deeply about this group. So really, all the important things, they’re exactly the same.”

Posted on September 20, 2017September 20, 2017 by Nascar

Ryan Reed heads into the NASCAR XFINITY Series playoffs as the No. 6 seed, but the Roush Fenway Racing driver knows he and his team have their work cut out for them if they hope to advance and possibly contend for the championship.

“It’s a tough atmosphere to judge,” Reed told NASCAR.com recently. “You’ll be like, ‘We ran ninth last week, is that going to be good enough (to advance)?’ Well, you have to look at your competition; who did you beat last weekend? That’s where it’s convoluted. There are times where it’s like, ‘We’ve got a shot,’ and times where you think, ‘We’re not going to be around if we don’t get it together.’

“Last year, we didn’t even ask where we stacked up (going into Playoffs) … Next thing you know going into Phoenix (for the final race before the Championship Round) we were seven points out. We ran fifth or sixth there, gave ourselves a real shot, it just didn’t work out. We had a plug wire fall off a couple of weeks before – you can’t have mistakes like that in the playoffs. We finished sixth in points and it was like ‘OK, the 16 team had a shot at this.’

“This year has been a lot different dynamic. Obviously the last few weeks have been on us, we have to clean our mistakes up. I think if we do then we do have a shot at it.”

Reed earned his playoff berth early, winning the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway for the second time in his career. The remainder of the regular season had been one of ups and downs for the No. 16 team. After a handful of top 10s early in the season, the group has struggled to finish off races heading into the playoffs.

For the first 12 races of the season, RFR fielded two XFINITY Series teams. But a lack of sponsorship led officials to shut down the No. 6 team of driver Darrell Wallace, leaving Reed and the No. 16 group to go it alone.

Any impact wasn’t felt immediately – Reed finished eighth a week after the move. But there have been times when not having a second car has affected Reed’s efforts.

“Maybe weekends like (Bristol) where that’s not my best track and I probably do struggle to get some feedback from there,” he said.

“Talk to any (organization) that is a two-car team … a driver who struggles at a particular track is going to lean on the teammate who is better there. (Bristol) was a good example of where being a two-car team can help.

“But I think overall we do a nice job; we go to figure out how to keep our nose clean, not beat ourselves on pit road and things like that.”

Reed qualified 27th at Bristol and finished 37th. It was the second of three consecutive races the team failed to complete.

The Playoffs, however, provide the opportunity for a fresh start. Race No. 1 for the 2017 title takes place Saturday at Kentucky Speedway (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN).

“I think we have some things to clean up but I think that’s not because we’re a one-car or two-car team,” Reed said. “Because once the race starts, you’re on your own and some of that stuff we beat ourselves, some of it is driver-inflicted. We just have to clean it all up across the board.

“We can lean on our Cup teammates but not like we could before. Today, usually when you see a single-car team it’s still part of a satellite organization or something like that. I do think there is an advantage to having multicar teams or else you wouldn’t see all those groups do it.”

In addition to the XFINITY Series team, Roush Fenway also fields two entries in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series with drivers Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Trevor Bayne.

“This is the absolute hardest, toughest year I’ve ever been a part of,” Reed said. “You’ve got some really good, high-quality teams that are struggling heading into the playoffs. It’s just a tough, tough series right now.”

And even though his own team has struggled more than he anticipated, Reed still feels good about his Playoff chances.

“I don’t consider us an underdog,” he said.

Posted on September 20, 2017July 7, 2020 by Kathy Sheldon

Alba Colon, who has played a key role in Chevrolet’s NASCAR success, from Dale Earnhardt’s to Jimmie Johnson’s championships and more, won a title of her own: the STEM award from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation.

Racing partners offered praise Tuesday for the science, technology, engineering and math award presented to one of NASCAR’s fiercest competitors.

Congratulations to our very own @NASCAR Cup Series Program Manager, Alba Colon on receiving the @HHFoundation STEM Award #HHA30 pic.twitter.com/NVa5zYG4ML

— Team Chevy (@TeamChevy) September 20, 2017

Congratulations Alba! https://t.co/9GDYwZB0V4

— Ryan Newman (@RyanJNewman) September 20, 2017

The Hispanic Heritage Awards included top Latino performers and personalities paying tribute to the honorees from the stage on Sept. 14 in Washington, D.C., and will be broadcast nationally Oct. 6 at 10 p.m. ET on PBS.

“As a Latina in a traditionally underrepresented field, Alba Colon is a transformative role-model for our community,” José Antonio Tijerino, President and CEO of the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, said in a press release. “The Hispanic Heritage Foundation is privileged to honor her with the STEM Award.”

Colon, who was born in Spain and grew up in Puerto Rico, began as Chevrolet Racing Program Manager for the NASCAR Cup Series, working with drivers such as Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Johnson, Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and many more. Under her charge, Chevrolet has now amassed 285 race wins, 11 Drivers’ Championships and 14 Manufacturers’ Championships.

Posted on September 20, 2017 by NASCAR Wire Service

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Christopher Bell rolled through the NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series regular season showing he’s capable of winning races and that he’s championship-worthy.

Now it’s time for Bell to do all of that again in the playoffs – and to prove that he can win the title.

Bell will be the top seed as the eight-driver Camping World Truck Playoffs begin Saturday with the UNOH 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (1 p.m. ET on FS1). He begins his push for the championship with 40 valuable playoff points, many of them accumulated from his four victories at Atlanta, Texas, Kentucky and Pocono.

“Looking ahead, nothing changes for us,” Bell said. “We are going to try and win each and every race in the playoffs. There’s nothing you can do that’s different (from the regular season) except you realize that the penalties are higher if you make a mistake, so you’ve got to try and minimize your mistakes.”

This isn’t Bell’s first postseason experience. He qualified for the playoffs in his rookie season of 2016 – getting in by virtue of a victory at Gateway Motorsports Park – and advanced on points to the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. But his whole outlook of what it takes to perform well in the playoffs – and grabbing a first championship – has changed from a year ago.

“Last year I felt like we were able to capitalize on consistency,” Bell said. “We won in the middle of the season at Gateway, but overall we weren’t consistently competing for wins. We knew if we could knock down top fives or to eights, it would get us to Homestead.

“But this year we’ve seen a different kind of progress. We’re competing for wins a lot more often and we’ve won a lot more races. Hopefully it continues that way and we win our way to Homestead.”

The regular season was nothing short of a success for Bell, who had 10 top fives, 14 top 10s, won three poles and five stages victories, in addition to leading 593-of-2,200 laps (more than a quarter of the laps he ran). He thinks that’s the kind of consistency that should help get him to Homestead again (along with the built-in advantage of those 40 bonus points).

“I think that will translate for us into the Playoffs,” Bell said. “It’s going to be nothing different. Saturday (at New Hampshire) will be just another race. There’s no more added pressure over the next nine races than if we were to go to the GoPro Motorplex (in nearby Mooresville, N.C.) and run go-karts. We’re all racers. The only downside is the mistakes are more costly.”

As confident as Bell is, two upcoming Playoff tracks have him somewhat concerned – Martinsville and Talladega.

“Martinsville is my struggle point,” said Bell, whose best finish in three starts at the Virginia short track is sixth (twice). He remembers leading late at Martinsville when he was taken out by a lapped car.

Then there’s Talladega, which will be the third and final race of the playoffs’ first round and where Bell finished sixth in 2016.

“Talladega’s such a wild card,” Bell said.

Bell said there will be no major changes for the playoffs made to his No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota truck. None are necessary.

“We haven’t done any experimenting,” he said. “Every time we go to the race track, we have fantastic trucks, so there’s no need. Kyle (Busch) has done some experimenting with our fourth truck, so luckily for me I haven’t been the guinea pig. This truck can compete for wins and has winning speed and has winning speed almost every time.

Bell laughed.

“Now that looks bad for me as the driver, because I didn’t win every race.”

Posted on September 20, 2017September 21, 2017 by Zack Albert

CONCORD, N.C. — It’s an ideal time to dream about season-long goals at Chip Ganassi Racing, with both of its Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series entries in the early stages of the postseason hunt. Placards welcoming their employees into the playoffs are constant reminders in the 185,000-square-foot shop.

A NASCAR championship would be a first for the 59-year-old Ganassi, who has enjoyed multiple titles as a car owner in other motorsports disciplines. But it would also mean something else to Chad Johnston and Matt McCall, the crew chiefs for Ganassi’s No. 42 and No. 1 rides.

“It’s probably going to mean whiplash,” Johnston said with thick deadpan, recalling Ganassi’s physical exuberance atop the No. 42 pit box for Kyle Larson’s victory last month at Michigan International Speedway.

“Poor Chad’s still wearing a neck brace during the week trying to recover,” says McCall, the third-year crew chief for Jamie McMurray.

Being grabbed by the shoulders and jostled by their team owner is a side effect that both Johnston and McCall would gladly accept, so long as a championship was part of the equation. Both teams opened their postseason quests on solid footing last weekend at Chicagoland Speedway: Larson finished fifth to hold second in overall points, and McMurray recovered from a spin to take 10th place, moving him up five spots to 11th in the Round of 16 standings.

While there’s a vibe of excitement to the final 10-race stretch, there’s also an element of status quo to the preparations. The same checklists and duties remain, even as the pressure ratchets up, and Johnston says he hasn’t done or said much differently to change up the approach that’s served the organization well for the 26-race regular season.

“I think that’s the beauty of here. They’re all pretty self-motivated,” Johnson says of his crew. “We all came into the year looking to go to Homestead for a chance at the championship and anything less is going to be a disappointment. It doesn’t take much motivation on their parts. They’re all pretty self-motivated, and they hold themselves accountable, so it’s a really good group to work with. They’re willing to do whatever it takes to make the cars better.”

For Larson and his team, that approach netted four regular-season victories. For McMurray, McCall and Co. on the No. 1 Chevrolet, the group is still searching for that first win of the year, having ridden a formula of balance and top 10 efforts into the postseason field.

“To not have won a race right now, it is hard for us to be super-positive, right, because we’ve been able to run top five, top 10 somewhat consistently, but to be able to put a full race together and get a win is still … I think it’s pushed our guys harder,” says McCall, who called his 100th premier-series race as a crew chief last Sunday. “We’re positive we can get the results we’ve been getting. We just need to improve that.”

If there’s need of further reminders that the team is capable of achieving big-prize goals, Exhibit 1 and 1-A sit just inside the entranceway to the shop’s main floor — a pair of No. 1 Chevys still covered in race-track grime from McMurray’s landmark 2010 victories in the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400.

There’s room for more history-making cars in that white-walled foyer, something longtime CGR project manager Chris Clark says he can almost taste for the first time in more than a decade. Before the operation’s recent performance spike, Chip Ganassi Racing’s closest challenge for a NASCAR championship dated back to Sterling Marlin’s injury-shortened 2002 season.

“I think for where the organization was about two years ago, to get it to the level we are, it should mean a lot to everybody in this program company-wide,” says Clark, who has 20 years of experience at Ganassi. “Everybody’s pushed pretty hard for the last year and a half to get to this level, to make the goals and push through to get into the (Playoffs), so to get both cars here, it’s big for us right now as an organization.”

Even if it means a post-Homestead trip to the chiropractor for its crew chiefs.

Posted on September 20, 2017September 21, 2017 by Holly Cain

It is absolutely impossible to speak with Sherry Pollex for more than two minutes and not start feeling something strong and distinct develop in your own heart and mind. She is positive, motivated, and optimistic. And she makes you feel the same way.

It’s an amazing demeanor for someone so bravely battling stage III ovarian cancer. In fact, Pollex, 37, has recently begun her second trip through intense chemotherapy treatment after doctors located a Ping Pong ball-sized recurrence of cancer in her spleen this summer. Surgeons removed her spleen and she was still recovering in the hospital when her longtime boyfriend Martin Truex Jr. won the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup race July 8 at Kentucky Speedway.

She was trackside this past week, however, when Truex, 37, and the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team kicked off the playoffs with a huge victory at Chicago — his series best fifth of the season and a perfect exclamation point for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.

It seems like the ultimate in “win-win” situations!

“To be able to experience what he’s going through on and off the track has been huge for both of us,” Pollex told NASCAR.com. “I think the race track is a good place to go to kind of forget about all your troubles. You go there, perform well and it makes everything better. It makes him happy, and I love seeing him happy. It’s been an amazing year.”

The ability and opportunity to appreciate Truex’s success in NASCAR has actually been a sort of panacea for Pollex. And for Truex.

Truex, the Regular Season Champion, is guaranteed a spot in the second round of the NASCAR Playoffs with Sunday’s win. He’s collected more race trophies, more playoff points than any other driver this year. And, he’s done it with good vibes even against emotional odds.

You think Truex is strong behind the steering wheel of his Toyota? Imagine what he’s like out of the driver’s seat being a source of strength, compassion and can-do for Pollex.

“I think about that a lot,” Pollex said. “He’s not a super emotional person and doesn’t talk a lot about his feelings and I worry about him dealing with everything that I’m going through — I know he worries about my disease and me possibly not being there for him one day.

“I can’t imagine the pressure in everything he’s had to deal with and he just handles it with such class. His character speaks for itself. Most people in the garage have a lot of respect for him. He’s a good person and he has a big heart and he’s always been there for me. He’s my rock and he’s never wavered once through everything we’ve been through.”

On her website, Sherrystrong.org, Pollex has candidly written about her recent medical situation. Opening up helps her. And she hopes, helps others.

As word of her current situation has gotten out, Pollex said she’s been surprised at the number of people who have reached out to cheer her on — at the grocery store or gas pumps even, people stop her to wish her well.

“The passion the fans have in NASCAR, there’s really no other sport like it,” Pollex said. “I wonder sometimes, why do they feel so connected? I think some really feel like they are going through a battle with me. So many people around the world are touched by cancer and any time you can relate to someone going through something that tough, you feel a connection to them. You can’t explain to people what it is to meet people who are going through what you are going through. It’s real.

“For me, I’ve been very open with what I’m going through and I want to help other women and people in general who are battling cancer. I kinda feel like that’s the path God has put me on. Everyone is dealing with a struggle or something going on in their life. No one’s life is perfect. I just put it all out there and hope it inspires or helps someone.”

Judging by the response she receives and the feel-good Truex produces, it’s safe to say Pollex’s message of positivity through adversity has gotten out.

And now each weekend, Pollex can take great satisfaction in watching Truex find such success. He’s put in 12 years in NASCAR’s big time and four years ago took a leap of faith to join the small Furniture Row Racing team based 1,000 miles from NASCAR’s Charlotte hub, a small organization that fought to be considered a legitimate title contender compared to the “mega-organizations” it competed against.

And now, Truex and team are making a great, even emotional, run for his first Monster Energy Series title and the Furniture Row Racing team’s first championship too.

“I feel like it’s God rewarding him with this success for him being such an amazing person,” Pollex said. “Everything you’ve worked your whole life for is finally coming to fruition. You’re with a manufacturer that’s good, you and your crew chief are good — him and Cole (Pearn) are such a good combination — and that team. It’s the closest-knit group of guys I’ve ever been around. They have told me so many times that, ‘There’s no other guy in that garage we would want behind the wheel of that race car than him.’

“And,” she continued, her voice full of passion and admiration, “How he handles things in the car and when things don’t go his way. Martin and I talk about things, how his personality is so different than from before I got diagnosed.

“The old Martin would have gotten mad when they had a bad pit stop or run bad. But he’s not like that anymore and I think that’s what he means when he says, ‘With everything Sherry and I have been through … it’s made me a better person and a better driver.’

“You can take all that adversity and turn it into something positive and that’s exactly what he’s done. That’s hard to do.”

And she should know.

Posted on September 20, 2017 by Staff Report

When NASCAR brought its road show to Japan for the first time in the 1990s, it meant transporting everything that makes the sport so great 7,000 miles — including the post-race drama American fans love to see.

Little did they know the drama would center around the father-son duo of Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. But as Junior explains in this excerpt from “Made in Japan,” which airs tonight at 6 ET as part of FS1’s Race Hub, things got interesting when he felt his father’s shoe whiz past his head after the race.

Find out what provoked Dale Sr. to do such a thing and what happened afterward, then tune in for the rest of “Made in Japan” to see the other stories that unfolded when NASCAR went to the Far East for a race.

Posted on September 20, 2017September 20, 2017 by Staff Report

Dale Earnhardt Jr. talked about his own and his father’s NASCAR records during the latest version of his Dirty Mo Radio ‘Dale Jr. Download’ podcast.

As his final full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season is down to just nine more races, Earnhardt was asked if he’s put much thought into not surpassing Bill Elliott’s Most Popular Driver Award record, which sits at 16. Earnhardt won for the 14th consecutive time in 2016.

Earnhardt said it wouldn’t be fair if he stuck around a couple more years just to reach that feat.

“I never thought about it,” Earnhardt noted. “It would be sticking around only for that and that would be wrong.”

That question segued into a conversation about his thoughts on Jimmie Johnson possibly winning eight championships, which would surpass a record set by both his father, Dale Earnhardt, and Richard Petty.

“There’s a little sliver of me that doesn’t want Jimmie (Johnson) to win eight,” Earnhardt said. “I like that Jimmie tied him because I see him and my father more as equals. I think Jimmie is definitely in the conversation of the greatest driver that’s ever been in the sport. Now, I’m biased because I think my dad’s awesome.”

MORE: Listen to the full podcast

Posted on September 20, 2017July 7, 2020 by Kathy Sheldon

For his final full-time season as a driver, NASCAR.com will offer an analytical preview on Dale Earnhardt Jr. ahead of every remaining Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race.

Race: ISM Connect 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Date: Sunday, Sept. 24, 2 p.m. ET (NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Previous five results at New Hampshire: 18th, 25th, fifth, ninth, 10th

Notable: The ‘Magic Mile’ is a track where Earnhardt has had success, but a Victory Lane celebration has so far been elusive. In 34 career starts, Earnhardt has 15 top-10 finishes at Loudon and eight top-five finishes with the most recent coming in 2015 when he placed fifth after starting 19th. The closest Earnhardt has come to crossing the finish line first here was in Sept. 2004 as he finished third just behind winner Kurt Busch and Matt Kenseth. More recently, Earnhardt was one of just six drivers who led the field (for 10 laps) at New Hampshire this past July.

Memorable: Even without a win, Earnhardt has had a handful of strong performances in New Hampshire, including Sept. 2003 when his then No. 8 team led a race-high 120 laps. Unfortunately, Earnhardt fell back to finish fifth, but it ended up being good enough for his first top five at the track. A year later in the same race, Earnhardt improved his New Hampshire career-best by finishing third.

Quotable: “We spent several hours in the simulator on Monday trying to figure something out for this week. We aren’t riding this year out or giving up,” Earnhardt said. “We’re going to keep working hard the rest of the season. I’m looking forward to New Hampshire – it’s a fun track. It’s flat and it’s kind of tricky to get around, but it’s fun.”