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TALLADEGA, Ala. — He’s Talladega’s favorite son, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. has everything in place to have a magical weekend — a successful Talladega history, unwavering support from the locals and a car that has proven success at plate tracks.

That last item might be the most important.

Junior’s No. 88 Chevrolet — sporting a “cursed” Diet Mountain Dew scheme, as he joked on Twitter earlier is this week — is actually the same chassis that’s been to Victory Lane three times this year. It won the first Daytona Duel in February, at Talladega in May and again at Daytona in July.

At a place such as the massive 2.66-mile oval, the largest in NASCAR, having confidence in what’s under him is more important to Earnhardt Jr. than anything else.

“We’ve won here this year and we’ve ran good and won at Daytona over the last several years,” Earnhardt said Friday. “So when we come to all the plate tracks we feel confident we can do well, and we feel confident in the car. The confidence that you have in the car is really where it all stems from. When you don’t believe in the car, you make (worse) decisions.”

The success here doesn’t hurt, either — Junior is tied with Jeff Gordon among all active drivers with six wins at Talladega. His dad, “The Intimidator”, is the all-time winner here with 10, and this weekend is the 15-year anniversary of Dale Earnhardt’s 76th and final career win.

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Earnhardt Jr. recounted some of that 2000 race with alarming accuracy Friday, noting that the pressure also gets ratcheted up — Chase or no Chase — at Talladega because of the Earnhardt legacy of excellence here.

The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs, of course, only adds to that. Sunday’s CampingWorld.com 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM) is a postseason elimination race, and Earnhardt Jr. almost certainly must win it to advance to the eight-driver Eliminator Round.

“There’s no denying the intensity and pressure it puts on drivers like myself to be in a cutoff situation where you’re eliminated if things don’t go perfectly on Sunday,” Earnhardt said. “But I think it’s what the fans enjoy. If I’m a fan, I like it.”

The Hendrick Motorsports driver finds himself in this position after a pair of finishes outside the top 20 earlier in the round. He finished 28th at Charlotte, the opening race of the 12-driver Contender Round, following an incident with Carl Edwards and several ensuing trips into the wall.

A 21st-place finish last week at Kansas deepened his hole and put Earnhardt Jr. 31 points behind eighth-place Martin Truex Jr., who is in the cutoff spot.

RELATED: Chase-clinching scenarios for Talladega

Sunday is not mathematically a must-win scenario to advance in the postseason, but it’s close.

Here’s an example. If Junior finishes second Sunday and leads at least one lap, but not the most laps in the race, he would earn 43 points. In order for him to advance in the postseason, Kevin Harvick (fifth in the standings), Jeff Gordon (sixth) and Brad Keselowski (seventh) would all have to finish 34th or worse; Truex Jr. would have to finish 33rd or worse; and Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman, ninth and 10th in the standings, respectively, would have to finish outside the top 25.

So, yeah, winning makes everything simpler. And winning at Talladega is something the Earnhardts do better than anybody else.

“We’re trying to do as good a job as we can, and when the race starts we want to run up front and try to stay toward the lead,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I think I need to be in the lead with 30 or 20 (laps) to go to have a really, really good shot at it.

“Hopefully it’s exciting, but I’d love to lead the last 30 straight.”

Editor’s note: The following content was provided by Goodyear and may not reflect the opinions of the editorial staff.

As an elimination race in the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup, Talladega Superspeedway holds the key to advancing to the next round. For the 12 drivers still in contention for a championship, that’s not a comforting fact. Although Talladega is a fan favorite, it will likely be one of the most unpredictable races of the Chase. That’s because 500 miles of high speed “pack racing” at the superspeedway can sometimes make luck a serious factor in a driver’s finishing position.

For Goodyear, however, the variables affecting tire performance are well known. As one of only two superspeedways on the NASCAR schedule, Talladega is synonymous with speed. The 2.66-mile tri-oval carries drivers to average speeds of more than 200 mph — which are limited with restrictor plates, used to reduce the engine’s power output. The surface is also more aggressive than Daytona, with rougher asphalt translating to a higher rate of tire wear.

These factors make endurance a major consideration in Goodyear’s tire development at Talladega. Higher speeds place more load on the tires, while the dynamics of pack racing (cars bunched up in a pack because of the limited top speed) often lead to drivers sliding in and out of the corners.

To deliver superior performance in these extreme conditions, Goodyear has developed a tire combination unique to Talladega. The left side tire was engineered specifically for use at superspeedways (Daytona and Talladega), and features a softer compound to give drivers the grip they need at sustained high speeds. The right side tire features a harder compound than what’s used at Daytona, to handle the wear of the more aggressive surface. Both use tire constructions that have been reinforced for use at sustained high speeds.

Heading into the NASCAR race at Talladega, fans will be on edge of their seats as they witness cars racing up to four wide. Add in high speeds, tensions of championship hopes on the line, the possibility of “the big one,” and it’s easy to see how many variables could impact the race outcome. Luckily, one thing drivers can count on is the expert engineering behind their Goodyear Eagle race tires which will carry them to the finish line.