DRIVER: Dale Earnhardt Jr. / No. 88 TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet
RACE: Alert Today Florida 300 (120 laps / 300 miles)
TRACK: Daytona International Speedway
DATE: Saturday, February 21, 2015
Quotes | Dale Earnhardt Jr.
“Daytona is obviously the biggest race of the year for everyone. For JR Motorsports, winning that race with Regan (Smith) last year really catapulted the company to an unbelievable season. This is a huge race with our friends at TaxSlayer.com being on the car, so we’d love to put them in victory lane and start the XFINITY Series season off right.
“Drafting in the XFINITY car is really tricky, but fun at the same time. Not being able to use the tandem draft makes it more difficult to pass the leader if he’s got a strong car because he can just run right around the bottom. Pit strategy will come into play because you want to position yourself in those first two or three rows on the late restarts or you’ll be boxed in with no place to go.”
Notes | No. 88 Team
ALL-STAR CAR: By virtue of its driver roster, the No. 88 has been dubbed the “All-Star” car at JR Motorsports. Earnhardt Jr. will be first to race as the team competes for the 2015 NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) Owner Championship. Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne and newcomer Ben Rhodes will also pilot the No. 88 this season.
WINNING DAYTONA: Earnhardt Jr. has won more than a quarter of the NXS races he’s entered at Daytona International Speedway (DIS) for a win percentage of 26.1. With a total of six NXS victories at the prestigious 2.5-mile tri-oval, he has the most of any driver in Saturday’s event.
NUMEROLOGY: The defending Daytona 500 champion ranks first among NXS drivers in fastest laps run at DIS. Earnhardt Jr. has turned the fastest lap in NXS competition 88 times, matching the number on his TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet Camaro.
HUNTING A DAYONTA FIRST: While Earnhardt Jr. has racked up six NXS race victories at DIS, he’ll look for his first win at the track in the No. 88 JR Motorsports car this Saturday.
NEW FACES: The No. 88 team will arrive to the track with a handful of new crew members, starting with crew chief Dave Elenz, who was most recently the lead engineer for the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team. Other new additions to the No. 88 team include: Richard Boswell (engineer), Talmadge “Bones” Patton (transporter driver), Joe Smith (interior mechanic), and Rob Tracy (front-end mechanic).
TAXSLAYER PROMO: TaxSlayer.com is offering a 20 percent discount for new users on classic federal returns by entering promo code DaleJr15.
