NSCS Daytona Preview: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

DALE-TONA: In 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has recorded

two wins, six top-five finishes and 10 top-10s. He has led 331 laps and completed almost 98 percent of all laps run (2,933 of 2,997).

ACU PAINT JOB: To honor the National Guard and this weekend's Fourth of July holiday, the No. 88 Chevrolet will run a special,

hand-painted camouflage ACU (Army Combat Uniform) scheme. The National Guard Defending Freedom (ACU)/AMP Energy Chevy

took two days and 10 coats of DuPont paint to finish. The scheme was unveiled to National Guard soldiers at North Carolina's Camp

Butner on June 18 by Earnhardt and the No. 88 team.

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT: Earnhardt earned his first victory in Daytona's 400-mile Sprint Cup event seven years ago on July 7,

2001. Earnhardt led 116 of the 160 laps that day and edged then-teammate Michael Waltrip by .123 seconds for an emotional finish.

Earnhardt's visit to Victory Lane -- his first in a points-paying event at Daytona -- came 11 years later to the day after his late father,

Dale Earnhardt Sr., won his first Cup Series points race at Daytona.

DAYTONA CHASSIS: Crew chief Tony Eury Jr. and the No. 88 engineers have chosen Chassis No. 88- 478 for this weekend's race

at Daytona. It is the same car that Earnhardt drove to lead 47 of the 70 laps in the Budweiser Shootout en route to a victory in

February. Chassis 88-478 also performed well at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, when Earnhardt finished 10th after leading 46

laps.

DOUBLE DUTY: Earnhardt will compete in his seventh NASCAR Nationwide Series event of 2008 on Friday evening. In 14

Nationwide Series starts at Daytona, he has led an impressive 467 laps and has recorded five wins, seven top-five finishes and eight

top-10s. Earnhardt has completed 96 percent of his attempted laps (1,525 of 1,589).

PROVEN WINNER: After winning this year's Budweiser Shootout and one of the Gatorade Duel qualifiers in February, Earnhardt

has 12 combined wins at Daytona. He won the 2004 Daytona 500, the 2001 Pepsi 400, two Budweiser Shootouts (2003 and 2008)

and five Nationwide Series events. Earnhardt also won his Gatorade Duel qualifying races in 2003 and 2004.

ARE YOU OLD SCHOOL, NEW?: The Old School, New School promotion, which runs from May 19 through Aug. 11, gives

consumers the chance to win "Cars, Kicks and More" and then choose their old school or new school prize, like a 2009 Corvette or

a vintage one. To enter, fans must enter the code found on the bottom of their AMP Energy, Mountain Dew or Sobe drink purchase.

Consumers can learn more about the challenge by visiting www.oldschoolornew.com.

AMP YOURSELF ON FACEBOOK: AMP Energy has posted a link on Facebook.com where members of the JR Nation can get

together in a social network and post photos of themselves getting AMP'd. By logging on to www.facebook.com/AMPEnergy, Dale

Jr. fans can post photos and connect with other Earnhardt fans.

*****

DALE EARNHARDT JR., DRIVER OF THE NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD DEFENDING FREEDOM (ACU)/AMP ENERGY IMPALA

SS (ON RACING AT DAYTONA IN JULY.): "It's a lot of fun. When I was a little kid, the greatest part of the summer was going to

that race. That's what you looked forward to the most -- being at Daytona and playing on the beach for a week. And the race was

always fun to watch, and playing with all of your buddies. It's a points race, buts it's probably the least-pressured points race. It's

halfway through the season so you can afford mistakes and taking chances. But it's Daytona -- it's the beach and the summer -- so

the attitude and the temperament all the way around the racetrack are really laid back. It gets pretty warm. I wish it wasn't so hot,

but it's a fun race."

EARNHARDT (ON WHY HE ENJOYS RUNNING AT DAYTONA.): "I just like going down there. Daytona Speedweeks is a historic

event. It means a lot for me personally and for my family. The track itself has a lot of history. It's kind of like the grandfather of the

series when it comes to racetracks. It demands to be respected and appreciated. It's carried the sport in a lot of different areas. It's

given us a lot of great opportunities to put on some great races in front of some pretty large audiences. As soon as you walk in the

place, it's a totally different feeling than you get when you walk in other racetracks. It's a little like a monument more so than a

track."

EARNHARDT (ON HIS MOST MEMORABLE FOURTH OF JULY.): "It would have to be 2001 when I came back to Daytona after

February when my daddy was killed. To go back there and win was very special. We went and partied hard all week and just let it

all go and had a lot of fun. We got in there to race and buckled down and won. I couldn't believe it. Still to this day, I just don't

believe that happened the way it did. That will be hard to top."

TONY EURY JR., CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD DEFENDING FREEDOM (ACU) /AMP ENERGY IMPALA

SS: (ON DAYTONA.): "Daytona is pretty unique in July because it's just so hot there. Handling has a lot bigger affect in July. You

go down for Speedweeks (in February), and you're down there for two weeks to tune your car in. You go there this time, and you've

got one day. Whoever runs well there in February usually tends to run real well there in July. The biggest thing is you've got to make

sure your car handles well. I think a lot of people are redoing their cars to get more downforce in them because the track will be

slicker this time. We're looking forward to getting down there."

EURY (ON THE ACU PAINT SCHEME.): "It's going to be pretty cool. We talked to the painters here, and it's going to be all painted.

Most of the time we do a wrap in a situation like that, but these guys have been pretty pumped up about it, and we know how big of

a deal the National Guard is for us, so we wanted to come out of the box looking really shiny and nice. I think it will mean a lot to

those guys (the National Guard) for us to spend the extra time detailing out that car to make it look good. There's not many people

who would attempt to paint this so it's going to be really special."

EURY (ON HIS APPROACH TO DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY.): "The driver takes care of you. You've got to have a

well-prepared car when you leave the shop. You're going to play the game however the game plays out as far as two tires, gas and

all that, but the biggest chess game is in the seat. Dale Jr. does an awesome job with that. We leave the strategy up to him. He's

the one who has to put the moves together and find drafting partners. We just make sure that when the caution comes out we can

make the proper calls."

EURY (ON MEMORIES OF WINNING IN 2001.): "It was a pretty cool deal. Dale Sr. had died in February, and we had worked really

hard on that car all spring. We pretty much went into that race determined to win. There was a lot of pressure on us to make that

car perform. Dale Jr. went down to Daytona a week earlier to be with his buddies. He wanted to make sure everything was right. He

wanted to have his head in the right spot. So there was a lot of determination with that race team when we pulled in there. Just to be

able to win and conquer something that you had your mind set on doing, it was a dream come true. I don't think we could have

wrote it any better. It was pretty much a storybook deal.

"You think about it all the time. That was a very special win. We all lost something that day in February (2001) down in Daytona.

We look at it as every time we go back to Daytona, we're proving something again -- we're doing it for Big E (Dale Earnhardt Sr.). It's

a pretty special place for both of us. It's understood when we go to Daytona, we mean business and we do it in respect for Big E. I

enjoy going there. You get a lot of memories when you walk in that place -- good times and bad times, but we like to remember the

good times."