Pre-Race Notes and Quotes: All-Star Race

Hendrick Motorsports | 5/18/2016

All-Star Race Charlotte Dale Jr. Mountain Dew News Race Preview

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will sport a special Mountain Dew paint scheme for Saturday's NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

RACE: NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race
DATE: Saturday, May 21, 2016
TRACK: Charlotte Motor Speedway
LENGTH: 1.5-mile oval
TV: FS1, 7:00 p.m. ET
RADIO: MRN/SIRIUSXM

Notes

ALL-STAR: Dale Earnhardt Jr. earned a victory in his first start in the All-Star Race on May 20, 2000. It was a 70-lap event, and he took the lead from Dale Jarrett on Lap 69 to lead the final two laps and win the race. Earnhardt has made every All-Star Race since 2000, although he has had to run the Sprint Showdown twice. Both times, Earnhardt transferred to the All-Star Race – once by winning the fan vote (2011) and once by winning the Showdown (2012). In the last four All-Star events, the Kannapolis, North Carolina, native has earned a best finish of fourth (2014) and a lowest finish of 10th (2015). 

DEW RETURNS: Mountain Dew returns to the No. 88 for its second of three races. Earnhardt will drive the patriotic No. 88 Mountain Dew Chevrolet SS in Saturday night’s All-Star Race.  By virtue of his race wins last season, Earnhardt has already secured his place in the 113-lap event and will have the opportunity to race for $1 million. Photos of the green-and-white patriotic Mountain Dew scheme can be seen here

CAST YOUR VOTE: Don’t forget, as part of the DEWcision 2016 campaign, Mountain Dew is allowing fans to vote on which of its flavors, Baja Blast or Pitch Black, will have a permanent spot in the retail lineup. All summer long, fans will be able to vote for their favorite flavor on DEWcision.com or Twitter by including one of the following hashtags in their tweets: #VoteBajaBlast or #VotePitchBlack. Every hashtag will count as one vote and fans can also complete additional challenges, released every third week on Mountain Dew’s social channels, to rally for their favorite flavor. The flavor with the most votes at the end of the program wins a spot in DEW’s permanent retail lineup after summer is over.

SETTING THE PACE: Carolina Panthers tight end Greg Olsen will be the honorary pace car driver for Saturday night’s Sprint All-Star Race. On Tuesday, May 10, Earnhardt’s pit crew put the tight end through the paces at Hendrick Motorsports when Olsen, who also sports the No. 88, took part in pit crew practice and a conditioning workout with the No. 88 over-the-wall crew. The NFL Pro Bowler tried each over-the-wall position, including jackman, fueler, tire carrier and tire changer. In case you missed it, you can watch the video of Olsen’s afternoon with the No. 88 pit crew and hear what he had to say about the experience here.

Quotes

Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the All-Star Race: “This All-Star Race will be a good opportunity for us to work on things. But, I’ll be honest, I’d rather win the 600. Running well during the rest of the season matters more to me than stumbling into a million bucks on the All-Star weekend. If we come out of the All-Star Race as winners but don’t understand how to go into the 600 and be competitive, it does us no good. I’d put an understanding of how we can get better as a team going forward above everything else.”