RELATED: Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s complete history at Martinsville
For his final full-time season as a driver, NASCAR.com will offer an analytical preview on Dale Earnhardt Jr. ahead of every remaining Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race.
Race: First Data 500
Date: Sunday, Oct. 29, 3 p.m. ET (NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Previous five results at Martinsville: 34th, 14th, 4th, 36th, 1st
RELATED: Recap all of Dale Jr.’s wins in the Monster Energy Series
Notable: In 34 starts at Martinsville, Earnhardt has just one victory at the short track, but he has finished in the top 10 18 times, including four times in the last seven races. The No. 88 team was forced to exit April’s race early after a crash on Lap 418. Sunday’s Martinsville finale will be extra special for the Earnhardts as wife Amy, who recently announced the couple would be expecting a baby girl, will drive the pace car. Earnhardt will also wheel the ‘Gray Ghost’ paint scheme that the fans voted on.
Memorable: Earnhardt’s lone Victory Lane celebration at the .526-mile track came in October 2014. The No. 88 team sat in fifth position for a restart with just five laps to go. He had just been eliminated from the playoffs the week before at Talladega, but stole the coveted grandfather clock trophy from several drivers still in the hunt, including former teammate Jeff Gordon. Earnhardt credits his team’s decision to take tires with eight laps left as a key to grabbing the win he had desperately wanted. The win also came on the 10th anniversary of the tragic plane crash that claimed the lives of several Hendrick Motorsports employees.
Quotable: “Martinsville this weekend should be a lot of fun. We’ve got the Gray Ghost – I appreciate everybody voting for that paint scheme so I can run it,” Earnhardt said in a team release. “I didn’t get to drive that car last year and I love that car, so I may have swayed the vote because I went on social media and said, ‘That’s the one I’d love to run.’ I’m excited to get the opportunity to drive that car this weekend. Martinsville is a great track for us. I love the short tracks and short-track racing.”
