RACE: CampingWorld.com 500
DATE: Sunday, October 25, 2015
TRACK: Talladega Superspeedway
LENGTH: 2.66-mile oval
TV: NBCSN, 2:30 p.m. ET
RADIO: MRN/SIRIUSXM
Notes
CHASE SCENARIO: Earnhardt, driver of the No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet SS, finished 21st at Kansas Speedway last week after a loose wheel forced him to make an unscheduled green-flag pit stop. He currently remains 11th in the 2015 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings, 56 points out of first and 31 points behind the eighth-place cutoff for transferring to the Eliminator Round. Talladega Superspeedway marks the final race in the Contender Round, after which four more drivers will be eliminated from championship contention.
E!’S “THE SOUP” LIVE IN ‘DEGA: Earnhardt will join host Joel McHale when “The Soup” goes live from Talladega on Friday, Oct. 23. “The Soup” will air at 10 p.m. ET on E!. The driver of the No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew Chevy SS joined McHale last month to promote the Talladega live show with a fun clip that featured several costume changes.
WINNING CHASSIS: The chassis the No. 88 team will bring to the track as this weekend’s primary is the same one Earnhardt has driven to three superspeedway wins this season: one in the first Daytona Duel in February, another at Daytona in July and the third at Talladega in May.
SUPERSPEEDWAY DOMINANCE: This season, Earnhardt has been dominant on superspeedways, earning an average finish of 1.7 in three races. At Talladega, the Kannapolis, North Carolina, native drove the No. 88 Chevrolet SS to victory in May and has the series’ leading average finish among active drivers of 15.1 in 31 career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at the 2.66-mile oval. Earnhardt is tied for the most all-time wins at the track among active drivers with six alongside teammate Gordon, but holds the all-time laps led honor among active drivers for himself with 899 laps led.
TALLADEGA LOOP DATA: According to NASCAR's loop data statistics, Earnhardt has the best driver rating during the last 10 years among active drivers at Talladega with a rating of 92.8. He also has led 410 laps during that period, the most laps of any active driver and one lap more than Matt Kenseth. Earnhardt also ranks in the top five in almost every other loop data category from Talladega, including average running position (second – 13.956), average speed late in a run (fifth – 193.416 mph), green-flag passes (fifth – 7,134), green-flag speed (fifth – 193.522 mph), laps in the top 15 (third – 2,496) and quality passes (third – 4,616).
SPECIAL GUEST: Austin Freeman, a 12-year-old with recurrent Ewing’s sarcoma, will be Earnhardt and the No. 88 team’s special guest on race day in Talladega. Earnhardt met Freeman on his Talladega Victory Tour earlier this month as part of CURE for Childhood Cancer’s wish program, and invited him and his family to come spend the day with the team at the Talladega race. Freeman will hang out with the driver of the No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet in the morning when they are interviewed for Fox Sports 1’s RaceDay. He will also get to meet the pit crew, help set up the pit box, tour the hauler and meet No. 88 team crew chief Greg Ives.
HALO 5: GUARDIANS RECAP: Last weekend’s race at Kansas Speedway saw Earnhardt sporting the Halo 5: Master Chief paint scheme on his No. 88 Chevy SS. Before the on-track action heated up, he and Jamie McMurray faced off in a friendly Halo 5: Guardians tournament at the track courtesy of Xbox.
Quotes
Dale Earnhardt Jr. on racing at Talladega: “At Talladega, you give more mentally than you do physically. In a plate race, you need to make decisions with confidence and make them quickly. If you have any kind of hesitation, someone makes that decision for you and takes away that opportunity. We’re taking the same car we won with earlier this year, so it’s got great speed and we feel confident. It really helps when you have a great car. We’ve had a fast car at the last couple of plate tracks -- we’ve won at Talladega and Daytona, so it really helps when your car is that dominant. It makes it a lot easier on the driver to do his job and fend off challenges, and get the car to the front in the first place.”
Earnhardt on what it takes to win at Talladega: “You need to be in the front four at least, if not in the top two on the last restart. The guy that controls the restart, the leader of the race on the last restart, is the typically the guy that has the best shot at winning. I’ve got the car. That car won the 125, ran third in the (Daytona) 500, won Talladega and won Daytona, so it’s a good enough car. I wouldn’t want to be going anywhere else if it’s a ‘win and you’re in’ kind of deal.”