RACE: Ford EcoBoost 400
DATE: Sunday, November 22, 2015
TRACK: Homestead-Miami Speedway
LENGTH: 1.5-mile oval
TV: NBC, 3:00 p.m. ET
RADIO: MRN/SIRIUSXM
Notes
STANDINGS UPDATE: With his victory in last Sunday’s rain-shortened event at Phoenix International Raceway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. moved up two spots to seventh in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings. The win was his 26th career NASCAR Sprint Cup victory and marked his third of the 2015 season and his third at Phoenix. The triumph also allowed Chevrolet to clinch its 13th consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series manufacturer’s championship.
NATIONWIDE AND THE BETTY JANE FRANCE AWARD: Vote today for The NASCAR Foundation's Betty Jane France Award presented by Nationwide Insurance: http://www.NASCAR.com/Award. The NASCAR Foundation’s Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award, presented by Nationwide, honors one dedicated NASCAR fan who has made a profound impact on children by volunteering in his or her local community. Voting is open through Dec. 3 and the winner will be named at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Banquet on Dec. 4 and presented with a $100,000 donation to his or her charity.
ON THE UPSWING: Earnhardt, who has yet to earn his first win at Homestead, has been on the upswing in his most recent visits to the 1.5-mile oval. While he has a total of one top-five finish and two top-10s in his 15 starts at the facility, the Kannapolis, North Carolina, native has finished inside of the top 15 in his last four trips to Homestead-Miami Speedway, including a career-best third-place finish in the 2013 event.
CHANCE AT CAREER HIGH: At Homestead, the 41-year-old driver could surpass his career record for top-five finishes in a single season. In 2004, he earned 16 top-five results and his victory last week at Phoenix allowed him to tie that record this season. Before this year, his next highest number of top-five finishes recorded in a single season was 12 in 2014.
GREEN-FLAG PASSES: Earnhardt leads all active drivers in the last 10 years at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the green-flag passes category. He has a total of 915 green-flag passes, which is 60 passes more than the next closest driver, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kahne.
HOMESTEAD LOOP DATA: According to NASCAR's loop data statistics, Earnhardt also ranks near the top of the fastest laps run category. The driver of the No. 88 Nationwide Chevy is fourth among active drivers at Homestead during the last 10 years with 149 fastest laps run, some of which have been during the 121 laps he’s led in his 15 starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Quotes
Dale Earnhardt Jr. on racing at Homestead: “If my car drives like it did at Texas, I'm going to win (at Homestead). I told (No. 88 team crew chief) Greg (Ives) to just make it drive just like that; I won't hit the wall with it and we'll win the race. We should have won Texas. But that track is really similar to Texas, so I feel confident that we can go there and run well, and we've run better there in the past. It's been a really difficult track for me for a really, really long time but we had an awesome run there a couple years ago, and I think that the track suits me - how we have to run the high line there - I really love racing that track up against the wall. Testing is really boring, but when I get nominated to test at Homestead, it's not such a bad thing because it's pretty fun. So that says how much I really like that place if I don't mind going there to test at it.”
Earnhardt on Jeff Gordon: “Jeff’s done so much for this sport over the years that I like to see, personally, the respect and appreciation that he’s been shown throughout the season and especially as it has ramped up toward the end of the year. He deserves every bit of it. I think everybody genuinely has appreciated what he’s lent to the sport as a driver, but also at Hendrick Motorsports and what he’s made of the company. I think that when you raced against Jeff you knew you were racing against one of the best. He is one of the top drivers in NASCAR, ever, and what he’s done for Hendrick Motorsports – he’s been with the same team his entire career, and he’s always put the company first and he always tried to do the right thing and help the company grow. When you look at Hendrick Motorsports and what it has become, Jeff’s influence was there and I think that I’ll always remember that too and appreciate that because I’m a driver and I work there and I, along with all the employees, have to appreciate what he’s done and how he’s affected that company. Selfishly, I’ll miss that part because I think that having him as a teammate helps me on the racetrack. I hope that he continues to have an influence on Hendrick Motorsports because I think that his influence there is a big benefit for the company.”