JR MOTORSPORTS TEAM PREVIEW – TALLADEGA
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[/media-credit]EVENT – Aaron’s 312 (117 laps / 311.22 miles)
TRACK – Talladega Superspeedway (2.66-mile D-shaped oval)
DATE – Saturday, May 5, 2012
TEAMS:
· No. 88 TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet (Cole Whitt)
· No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet (Danica Patrick)
· No. 5 Hellmann’s Chevrolet (Dale Earnhardt Jr.)
Cole Whitt
“I learned so much about drafting dur-ing our race at Daytona. We spent time working on the tandem draft dur-ing practice, but until you’re under race conditions it’s tough to know what to expect. I know I can carry a lot of that information over to Talladega. “These races are just about survival. At Daytona, I think we ran around 20th for most of the race. We avoided a couple accidents, including that big wreck at the end, and finished fourth. “At Talladega, patience is key. It’s a 117 lap race so there’s a lot that can happen in that time. It will be best to just settle in and let the race run its course. You don’t want to do anything stupid that could cost the team a good finish, especially in the closing laps.”
Danica Patrick
“This kind of racing can create some pretty interesting results and a lot can happen at these types of tracks. Most of the time it’s a case of right place at the right time and having the right partners. But sometimes it’s a case of right place at the wrong time. I’ve had a couple of those types of experiences at Daytona. It was crazy at Daytona this year. “They tell me that Talladega is much wider than racing at Daytona. And be-cause of that extra room, you’ll see drivers racing a little over their head at times. A good day for me would be to keep our nose clean and just be there for the finish. Aside from that, there’s not a whole lot you can plan for.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
“It’s good to be back in the Nationwide car and represent one of our good sponsors, Hellmann’s. I love racing at Talladega, that’s no secret. We’ve had a lot of success there. The fans are loud and passionate about racing, and we always feed off that. We’ll take a car down there and try to win with it — plain and simple — for Hellmann’s and all our fans in Alabama. This is my last scheduled Nationwide Series race of the year. I love working with Pops (Tony Eury Sr.) and it would mean a lot to be able to win this weekend with him as my crew chief. Plus, I’ve always believed there is nobody who builds a better restrictor-plate car than Pops. He knows how to get around Talladega and Daytona.”
Notes
SEASON FINALE – Talladega will mark Earnhardt Jr.’s fourth and final race in the No. 5 Chevrolet this season. In his previous three starts (Daytona, Bristol and Texas), Earn-hardt Jr. earned one top-five and one top-10 finish.
EXAMINING EARNHARDT JR. STATS – Through his last four restrictor plate races in Nationwide Series competition, Earnhardt Jr. owns one win, two top-five and three top-10s with an average finish of 7.0. Driving under the JRM banner, he holds one top-five and three top-10 finishes in his three starts at Talladega Superspeedway.
THE BOOK ON JUNIOR – Widely known for his restrictor-plate prowess, Earnhardt Jr. has seven restrictor-plate victories in Nationwide Series competition (Daytona, Feb. 16, 2002; Daytona, Feb. 15, 2003; Talladega, April 5, 2003; Daytona, July 4, 2003; Daytona, Feb. 14, 2004; Daytona, June 30, 2006; Daytona, July 2, 2010.) He has participated in eight NNS races at Talla-dega, finishing eighth or better in all but two of them, including one victory in 2003.
LEADING THE WAY – Of his 29 Nationwide Series restrictor-plate races, Dale Jr. has failed to lead laps in only eight of them. He has led a total of 635 laps among the two superspeedways — Daytona and Talladega.
WHITT’S PLATE UPDATE – Whitt’s lone restrictor plate start in Nationwide Series competition netted a fourth-place finish at Daytona in February. Talladega marks only the rookie’s second Nationwide Series start at a restrictor plate facility.
DANICA ON PLATE TRACKS – Patrick has four starts at Daytona International Speedway (DIS), but this marks her first at Tal-ladega Superspeedway. She owns one top-10 and two top-15 finishes at DIS. Patrick has earned an average finish of 24.2 and led 16 laps in restrictor plate starts. Additionally, the Roscoe, Ill. native has qualified inside the top-15 in all four of her plate starts, including one pole at Daytona earlier this year. Patrick’s average start in those races in 6.7.
STARTING UP FRONT – In the last restrictor-plate race (Daytona on Feb. 25), JR Motorsports qualified all three of its cars in the top eight positions, including Danica Patrick’s first career pole award. Earnhardt Jr. qualified fourth and Cole Whitt eighth in the season-opening event.
PILLARS OF SUCCESS – While many are familiar with the Earnhardt family’s success at Talladega, the name Eury is just as synonymous with their success. The father/son combo of Tony Eury Sr. and Tony Eury Jr. has combined for 12 wins at Talla-dega Superspeedway over the course of their careers. The pair served as crew chief and car chief on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car when he won five races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (four consecutively from 2001 to 2003), and both were on Dale Earnhardt’s winning team in the Nationwide Series event in 1993
PATRICK AND WHITT AUTOGRAPH SIGNINGS – Danica Patrick will be signing autographs at her merchandise hauler in the Talladega Superspeedway fan concourse area on Saturday, May 5 at 11:20 a.m. local time. The session is limited to the first 150 fans who acquire wristbands and fans can begin picking up wrist bands at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning. Additionally, JRM’s newest driver Cole Whitt will be signing autographs at the JR Nation merchandise hauler, also located in the fan con-course area at Talladega, on Saturday, May 5, beginning at 9:45 a.m. local time.
WIN DALE JR.’S RIDE ROUND TWO – For the second consecutive year, The Dale Jr. Foundation will again be raffling off Dale Jr.’s ride. This time around it’s an inferno-orange colored 2011 Chevrolet Camaro. Raffle tickets are only $25 each and only 8,888 will be sold. The winner will be invited to JR Motorsports, where Dale Jr. will hand over the keys to their brand new car. The contest will run through Oct. 1, 2012 with all proceeds benefitting The Dale Jr. Foundation. For complete de-tails about the car, a list of second and third-place prizes, and to purchase tickets visit www.windalejrsride.com.
Will Power looks for fourth consecutive win of season at Indianapolis
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[/media-credit]For the third straight race in the IZOD IndyCar Series last Sunday, Will Power found victory lane to give Penske Racing an early season sweep in the first four races. Power once again conserved another fuel for the second straight week.
“It just happened to fall into a two‑stop strategy for Ryan and myself,” he says. “I’m not sure about Takumo, but that was the right strategy, and we both had to save fuel but maintained a pretty good lap time. Yeah, just a solid day when you look at it, very solid, no mistakes.”
With the success early in the season, he now leads teammate Castroneves by 45 points. Power has gotten to a good start other years, then fallen off in the middle part of the season.
“I just think we never expect ‑‑ don’t expect it, definitely not this year,” he says. “We’ve had some great starts to this season, the last two years and fell short both times. So keep the head down, just try to enjoy it, enjoy my race.
Power has been known for being a road course racer. However, last year had success on the ovals as he scored a win at Texas and finished in the top five in four of the six oval races.
He says there is no magic secret to being successful as it’s all about being mistake free, having the right strategy and having a good car.
“We have data that we can overlay amongst the teammates and understand where it can go quicker and where we’re struggling,” he says. “If we can put all that together, ultimately you’re the quickest. But racing, you need a bit of luck, good strategy, no mistakes, and that’s how you win races.”
Now the focus for Power and the No. 12 Verizon Penske team is to win the 96th Indianapolis 500. Power has yet to win the Indianapolis 500 in his career as best finish at Indianapolis is a fifth, which came in 2009. This would be a good year to win for team owner Roger Penske as this year marks the 40th anniversary of Penske’s first Indianapolis 500 victory with Mark Donohue.
For Power, it will be all about carrying new attitude to the race later this month on May 27th.
“I try to just enjoy each race, and you know, just have fun with it rather than be so intense about it,” he says.
