MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
STP 500
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
APRIL 2, 2017

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 AXALTA CHEVROLET SS – Sidelined in multi-car crash on Lap 417
“I love this place. It was a lot of fun today. The car was really good. Greg (Ives, crew chief) and the guys made a lot of changes last night and made our car way better. I must have sped on pit road. They said it was in the segment right after our pit stall, so I must have gotten a good launch out of there. And, uh, hanging around John Force too much, or something, I don’t know. I don’t know how you speed in little segment just coming out of the pit box, but we must have. It got us in the back and we got bottled-up there in (Turn) 3 and they’re ain’t no bumpers on these cars. It knocked the radiator out of it. So, we’re out of the race. We went to the garage to try to fix it, but can’t with the new rules. So, we’re done. I was having a good time. But, I’m disappointed with the way we’re finishing. We’ve got to finish better than this.”

WHAT HAPPENED?
“The radiator got knocked out of it. It just ain’t got much of a front bumper on it to begin with. So, when you get in the back of somebody that hard it’s going to knock the top of the radiator off. It knocked the fitting off the top of the radiator and we are out. I was really happy with the way the car was running. We were fast all day. They said I sped on pit road, but hard to believe that, but it is what it is. We got back there in the back and got mixed up in something and it’s going to give us a bad finish, but we were having a great time – had a fast car.”

MORE ON WHAT HAPPENED:
“They just stopped and I couldn’t. I got into the back of the No. 5 (Kasey Kahne). His bumper knocked the top of the radiator off of it, knocked the fitting off the top of the radiator. We don’t have much of a bumper on there to begin with keeping the cars as light as we can and that is about the second or third time I’ve knocked the top off the radiator here. I wish they were a little tougher than that, so we could beat and bang and keep going.”

PRETTY AGGRESSIVE WITH THE STAGES TODAY WOULDN’T YOU SAY?
“It feels like the same old Martinsville. I love it. I was having a great time. Good hard racing out there. Got turned around, got back toward the front, leaning on guy, a lot of fun. Everybody is having a good time out there.”

THE SPEEDING PENALTY PUT YOU IN THAT POSITION. ARE YOU MAD AT YOURSELF?
“Well as far as what I see on my dash I wasn’t speeding, but they have better technology than we do. They said it was in the segment out of my pit box. Hell, I must have got out of there pretty damn good. I don’t know what to do about that.”