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Dale Jr. runs faster with two 8s!
Jr. pulls off a win in the first Gatorade 125
It's proving to be true! Dale Jr. is running much better with two 8s on the side and top of his new car as he pulls off his second win of Speedweek at Daytona! After winning the Budweiser Shootout, he lead most of the laps in the first of two Gatorade 125 qualifying races. That makes 2 jewels of the Triple Crown that has never been won before. No driver has ever won the Bud Shootout, a qualifying race, and the 500 all in a row, but Jr. is poised to do just that. Although he is ranked 13th in Daytona potential at this track, unless he runs into trouble when the "Big One" happens, he should be out front. His rank is lower than expected due to finishes last year of 23 and 32nd both due to mechanical problems.
Dale feels comfortable in the car and the car, team, and owner are all prepared and ready to do what it takes to win the 500 and The Daytona Triple Crown. Winning the Gatorade 125 goes one step further in proving that Jr's decision to move to Hendrick Motorsports was the right decision! Jr. said after the qualifying race, "I felt real good about the car and that made me comfortable and being comfortable makes it easier to drive it where I wanted to to get out front. It was real fast!"
On Saturday, I watched the new series featuring Dale Earnhardt Jr. in "Shifting Gears". It was a behind the scenes look at what Jr. goes through on a typical day at the track and at home. Dale was very frank about numerous issues that he normally side-steps in interviews. He talked in-depth about his Dad, Dale Earnhardt Sr., 7 Time Winston Cup Champion, and their relationship when he was growing up in the shadows of a great man and discussed how their relationship as father and son strengthened once he started racing and making a name for himself. He also featured several interviews of his sister talking about the business and her perspectives on Jr. and his decisions.
It was a very well planned out program and I'm sure fans can't wait until the next episode, I know I can't!
I'd like to go online right now and make a prediction. Jr. will win today, but only with the combined help of his teammates. There, I did it! Good luck to Jr. and his teammates in the Daytona 500 later today. Hopefully, I'll be back at this keyboard tonight writing about Jr. being the first to win the Triple Crown of Daytona including the 50th running of the Daytona 500 and talking about how bad he whipped Tony, the B boys, Matt, and Kevin to win it all!
James H. Jones Jr., A2Z Auto Racing 17 Feb 08 0745 ©2008
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