DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s fourth-career front row start for the Daytona 500 may well be the sweetest one he’s ever had.
Nearly eight months after a concussion that forced the perennial Most Popular Driver to sit out the back half of the 2016 season, Earnhardt returned to arguably his favorite race track and proved why he still belongs behind the wheel in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
Earnhardt took Coors Light Pole Qualifying for the 59th annual Daytona 500 by storm on Sunday afternoon, piloting the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet to a lap of 46.665 seconds (192.864 mph) around the 2.5-mile superspeedway to earn the outside front row starting spot for his first race back at NASCAR’s premier level.
And while he admitted that he was gunning for the top spot that teammate Chase Elliott edged him out for by .002 of a second, the 26-time Cup race winner couldn’t have looked more at ease after climbing from his race car at the end of the final round.
“I certainly would have loved to have gotten a pole, but my boss man (team owner Rick Hendrick) is happy,” Earnhardt said. “I just talked to him on the phone, and he’s got to be thrilled with having his cars up front.”
“This feels good. I think the guys are a little disappointed. They really wanted to get the pole. I’m disappointed too, but like I said, absolutely thrilled to have an all-Hendrick front row. We’ll work on the balance (of the car) a lot this week in practice to make sure we’ll have a good handling car for the race, but it’s a great way to start the week.”
Sunday marked the fourth time in his career that Earnhardt has qualified on the front row for ‘The Great American Race’, as well as the fifth time that Hendrick Motorsports has swept the top two spots in pole qualifying.
However, he admitted that he wasn’t sure how qualifying was going to end up for him before he went out and posted such a strong lap (second-quick) in the opening knockout round.
“I didn’t know where we stood against the competition yesterday in practice,” Earnhardt said. “It’s real hard to figure out what guys are doing, how they’re trimming their cars out, and whether to trust the speed you’re seeing from people. I don’t think Alan (Gustafson, crew chief for Elliott) had a ton of confidence in what they had yesterday, but when it came time, both of us were able to show up, and it’s good to be on the front row.”
Earnhardt also said that qualifying for the 500 is a relatively painless affair, with his piece to the puzzle being simple compared to the crew’s efforts.
“Ain’t much to it,” he said of a single-car run at Daytona. “The car does all the work. The transitions are kind of important, as far as feeding the car into the corner, and also running as tight as you can on the apron without bouncing the skirt off the apron or giving up any speed. Just time — adding feet to your lap by running high, at least a little bit — can make a big difference.”
“But other than that, the driver, I don’t think he’s feeling like he’s in control of too much. The car is doing most of the work.”
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