NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., will be driving the National Guard “Man of Steel” Chevrolet in the Quicken Loans 400 on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway. Earnhardt Jr. is currently fourth in the points although he has been winless since claiming victory of the 2012 Quicken Loans 400 last year in Michigan.
Could the Superman themed paint scheme on the No. 88 Chevrolet give Earnhardt Jr. the edge he needs to repeat his victory at Michigan International Speedway?
When asked about last year’s win and this paint scheme, Earnhardt Jr. commented, “We are excited about the car. The car looks great. It’s not difficult to come up with a cool paint scheme when you are working with Superman and like we did last year with Batman and all that. It’s pretty simple to come up with something really cool and fun. Definitely makes that kind of job easier. I think the care does look good. Hopefully it’s as fast as it looks good. That is going to be more important to be able to repeat and get the win this weekend. We feel pretty good coming in to this race. We had a great run last week that sort of hopefully got us back in the right direction. We talked about it last week after the race, but we kind of had some misses here lately and not many hits. As far as showing up to the race track and being competitive and getting the job done putting together a full weekend. We haven’t been able to do that. We started the season off so promising the best that I had ever started a season. It just seemed like things were going so perfectly and it’s the way it is in this sport. You will think you have everything going in the right direction and then odds and fate and everything else get in the way.”
Rick Hendrick commented that Earnhardt Jr. and his team are performing better coming into this race than they were one year ago when they ended up winning.
In response Earnhardt Jr. said, “Well it’s probably better to see the truth from his position on the other side of the fence so to speak. It’s more difficult to see growth and improvement within the team when you are a part of the team. It’s kind of like when you are a kid and you are getting taller. You are 10, 11, 12 years old and you are wanting to be six foot three (inches) one day you can’t tell you are getting taller unless you are marking the door jam. Otherwise you wouldn’t notice any change of height. That is kind of what it feels like when you are part of the team. You don’t really notice when things get a little bit better or things get a little bit worse.”
Although Dale Earnhardt Jr. has an impressive nine top 10 finishes this season, he has only led 48 laps. Hopefully, his strong history here at Michigan coupled with the momentum from last week’s third place finish and the upbeat attitude associated with this week’s sponsor will create the recipe for success Sunday in the Quicken Loans 400.
