With qualifying complete, Earnhardt now turns his attention to practice, and then, Thursday night’s Can Am Duel qualifying races. He will start from the pole in the second Duel by virtue of his lap in Sunday’s qualifying session.
He emphasized that his biggest focus will be working on the balance of his car so that he’s comfortable in race conditions — both in the Duel and in the Daytona 500, which he is a two-time champion of.
“It’s going to be real hard to get enough practice. We’re going to practice as much as we can, but you’ve got to have guys out there, enough guys out there to kind of put yourself in enough situations to get the confidence in the balance of the car, and so I don’t know if we’ll really achieve that because people don’t really practice that much for this race. They might, considering how the balance is changing with the track and stuff and it’s getting a little slicker. But hopefully a lot of guys will practice.”
“We’ll get out there and practice. We’re not worried about tearing our car up. We’ve got good cars, good backups. So we’ll go out there and practice hard, try to figure out if we can help our balance.”
Earnhardt also added that with the new race format this season, and the fact that Thursday night’s Duel pays points towards the championship, he has no plans of laying back in the weeds over the course of 150 miles under the lights.
Like he has done the past two years, his goal is simple: go out and win the race.
“With the points on the line, we’re going to race … (and) try to win, so we’ll get an opportunity to see how the balance is working there,” said Earnhardt, who is going for his third-consecutive Duel win and sixth overall. “At that point, if I’ve got any concerns, we’ll try to address (them).”
But at least on Sunday, Earnhardt’s return appearance felt exactly like it was supposed to — speed at a track where he’s made a name for himself since his debut at the top level.
Don’t call it a Hollywood script though. He’s hungry, and that hunger could well lead to a third Daytona 500 victory by the end of Speedweeks.
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network.
Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.
The 22-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
Email Jacob at: editor@racechaseronline.com
Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77
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