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Dale Earnhardt Jr. is undergoing culture shock.
At least, that's how he sees the learning experience he and his Dale Earnhardt Inc. team are undergoing with NASCAR's new car of tomorrow.
In preparing for the Nextel Cup Series' second race with the COT this weekend at Martinsville Speedway, Earnhardt Jr. says that his team has been testing at places such as South Boston (Va.) Speedway in an effort to prepare for this race.
"It's been a culture shock for everyone with the new car," he said. "It doesn't have the same handling characteristics as the old car, so all of the adjustments and all of the changes that you need to make are a learning experience each lap. It reminds me of my rookie year in 2000, when we came from the Busch Series and all of a sudden we had to learn how to make a much different car do the things we liked or were used to before. It takes some time, but we'll be fine."
Earnhardt Jr. has finished third twice at Martinsville and has six top-10 finishes and 487 laps led at the track. He says that if the team is close during the initial practice this weekend, then he thinks his DEI group can perform well at the track once more.
"We've always been strong at Martinsville, and all I want or expect from my guys is that we're in the ballpark when we unload that car. If we're close, then we're going to be all right," he said. "Get me in the ballpark, and I'll drive that thing as hard as I can.
"The mindset at Martinsville is a lot like Bristol or at a road course: You try to stay out of trouble and survive until the last 100 laps, and then you go racing to see who's gonna take home the trophy. Last year at this race, we got caught in someone else's mess in the first few laps and still managed to get a top-five finish with a car that was beaten to within an inch of its life. It was cool, but I don't want to have to do that again."
At least, that's how he sees the learning experience he and his Dale Earnhardt Inc. team are undergoing with NASCAR's new car of tomorrow.
In preparing for the Nextel Cup Series' second race with the COT this weekend at Martinsville Speedway, Earnhardt Jr. says that his team has been testing at places such as South Boston (Va.) Speedway in an effort to prepare for this race.
"It's been a culture shock for everyone with the new car," he said. "It doesn't have the same handling characteristics as the old car, so all of the adjustments and all of the changes that you need to make are a learning experience each lap. It reminds me of my rookie year in 2000, when we came from the Busch Series and all of a sudden we had to learn how to make a much different car do the things we liked or were used to before. It takes some time, but we'll be fine."
Earnhardt Jr. has finished third twice at Martinsville and has six top-10 finishes and 487 laps led at the track. He says that if the team is close during the initial practice this weekend, then he thinks his DEI group can perform well at the track once more.
"We've always been strong at Martinsville, and all I want or expect from my guys is that we're in the ballpark when we unload that car. If we're close, then we're going to be all right," he said. "Get me in the ballpark, and I'll drive that thing as hard as I can.
"The mindset at Martinsville is a lot like Bristol or at a road course: You try to stay out of trouble and survive until the last 100 laps, and then you go racing to see who's gonna take home the trophy. Last year at this race, we got caught in someone else's mess in the first few laps and still managed to get a top-five finish with a car that was beaten to within an inch of its life. It was cool, but I don't want to have to do that again."
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