Dale Jr., Letarte plan to be aggressive at 'Dega

Posted on October 16, 2014 by Staff Report

Driver of the No. 88 in a win-or-go-home situation in Contender Round finale

As the Sprint Cup Series rolls into Talladega Superspeedway for the GEICO 500 (Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, ESPN), several drivers are desperate to make a big move and keep themselves in the postseason. One of those drivers is Dale Earnhardt Jr.

  Earnhardt Jr. comes into Talladega 12th in the points standings and so far on the outside looking in at the Eliminator Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. He is 26 points behind Kasey Kahne, who holds the final transfer spot to the next round. So the surest — and in all likelihood only — way for Junior to advance is with a win.

  With plenty on the line and only two spots locked up for the Eliminator Round, the expectation is for a wilder race than normal.

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"I think Talladega is going to be pretty crazy — I expect guys are going to have to take some pretty big chances to continue to move on into the later rounds of the Chase, and Talladega is a track where we are all pretty much on top of each other in the draft and guys are going to have every opportunity to make things pretty interesting, so I expect that race to get pretty wild," Earnhardt Jr. said when asked about the Contender Round finale.  

The recently turned 40-year-old has had his share of success at Talladega with five wins in 29 starts at the 2.66-mile track, but he has not won there since 2004. He has led laps, though, in all but three of his starts at the Alabama track. And while he won’t need to lead plenty, he will need to be leading at the end in order to keep his championship hopes alive. So what is his strategy?

  "I think you got to get in there and just run as hard as you can and try and take every opportunity you can to just keep moving forward and take every position you can take," Earnhardt Jr. said. "We’ve thought at times that a more relaxed and patient attitude will be more beneficial, but I haven’t really ever had that pay off for me and good results with that race track. The races where I’ve ran my best is where I’ve been more proactive and aggressive, trying to move forward and trying to make passes and trying to keep track position, so I think that’s what we’ll try to do this time."

Steve Letarte, Earnhardt Jr.’s crew chief for the past four seasons, echoed those thoughts in an interview earlier this week on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s "The Morning Drive."
 
 "We’re going to be that team that’s aggressive. Aggressive with our fuel strategy, aggressive with our pit strategy. Try to keep the lead, try to assume track position does matter at Talladega. Try to be in the lead when it matters and then Dale’s gonna have to do his thing and then we’re going to have to get some help from the guys behind us. That’s the one unfortunate part about speedway racing, is that no matter how good you are, you are going to need some commitment from the people pushing you. That’s the scenario we didn’t want to have happen, but you know, we’re here."

 Letarte is leaving the No. 88 team after this season to move to the broadcast booth with NBC Sports’ coverage of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2015. He says the team knows what has to be done.  

"I don’t think there’s anymore pressure than there was going to Charlotte," Letarte said. Dale Jr. called his own shot of winning the Bank of America 500, but a broken shifter derailed his day and led to a 20th-place finish.

Letarte added that the No. 88 team’s position in the standings lends itself to a go for broke mentality.

"The guys that are in, that could fall out, they’re going to have a more stressful day, in my opinion, at Talladega than the guys that are way out hoping to get in, because we’ve kind of made our bed."

  Should the No. 88 team not advance, Letarte says not to expect them to lay down for the final four races.

  "We’re not giving up by any means," Letarte said. "Even if we fall out at Talladega, we are still not giving up. We race to win and I know the championship was the big buzz all year long and its great, but there’s a lot of years you don’t race for a championship. There’s a lot of guys that miss the Chase. You look at the 42 car, he’s not laying down. He’s racing to win and I think you’re going to see it out of the four teams that don’t make it out of Talladega."

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Posted on October 16, 2014 by Zack Albert

Colombian teenager joins Combine, hopes to continue impressive run

MORE: NASCAR Home Tracks | Recapping the D4D combine: Day 2 | Day 1

Juan Garcia Duarte’s first footsteps into the world of grass-roots stock-car racing have earned him frequent-flyer miles by the handful, but he’s also earned plenty of respect with his driving talent along the way.

If the 17-year-old native of Bogota, Colombia, finds his path to the top levels of NASCAR, he’ll have a countryman with the same first name to thank for paving the way.

Garcia relished the chance to showcase his skills in this week’s NASCAR Drive for Diversity Combine, an all-encompassing workshop at Langley Speedway in Virginia for up-and-coming drivers and an audition for a spot in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series with the Rev Racing team next season. If he continues climbing the ladder, he’ll be the first Colombian driver since Juan Pablo Montoya to make an impact on the U.S.-based sport.

"I think for every young driver in Colombia, his goals are to be in Formula One or IndyCar, but when I tried at age 14 or 15 to get into NASCAR, it’s just way different and much harder than you think," Garcia said, noting that Montoya has since moved on but that his legacy in NASCAR remains. "What Juan Pablo showed me, there could be another way to live through driving, so I decided to try the world of NASCAR. It’s like any new experience, and driving is not the same all the time so I prefer that, and with Rev Racing, I think I will achieve it."

While each of the 20 drivers participating in the Combine welcomed the chance for more seat time and exposure, Garcia has already made headlines in NASCAR Whelen All-American Series competition in the states. As a relative newcomer in the Super Late Model class at Irwindale Speedway in California, Garcia became the half-mile oval’s youngest main event winner at 16 years old last season, edging three-time track champ Rip Michels by .003 seconds with a power move on the high side.

The victory defied even the youngster’s modest expectations, but added fuel to his lofty aspirations while impressing his peers. The veteran Michels, now 49, was among those giving the teenager a thumbs-up in Victory Lane.

"To be racing against Rip Michels, it was really … I don’t know. I was just really happy when I won it," Garcia said. "It was really close, by just a foot. I didn’t expect to win that race against him because it was something like six races in a row he’d won and it was my first time in Super Late Models. It gave me the hope that I could be a NASCAR driver."

That hope was first kindled 10 years ago with Garcia’s first foray into karting in his homeland. He quickly made strides and held sway as a three-time champion by age 11.

While the formative stages of his career are far different than his current seat in a full-bodied stock car, it served him with valuable lessons in car control.

"It’s helped to feel the car and learn how to save it in case it goes away," Garcia said. "It helps you learn the pace that every driver needs to have and you can start at a young age. I think it’s real important; those are really the essential things that have helped me become a better driver."

Garcia said participating in a hands-on event such as the D4D Combine was another in a long series of new experiences — "in media, in driving, in everything" — that he’s put to use toward becoming a professional racer. While he’s faced some of the same challenges that most teenaged drivers do in balancing school and approaching young adulthood, the circumstance of being an international participant has raised the degree of difficulty.

While his 2015 plans remain fluid, Garcia is hoping that an offseason appointment from the Max Siegel-owned Rev Racing team would eliminate any uncertainty as he pursues his goals.

"The idea is to go to K&N to get more experience," Garcia said. "We have been racing Super Late Models but we think that it’s the time to make one more step to the K&N Pro Series. If Rev Racing accepts me, I will do everything to show them that it’s the best decision for me in K&N."

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