Graveyard Ghosts: Dale Jr.’s No. 88 AMP Chevrolet from 2012

Ron Lemasters | 7/17/2017

Dale Jr. Indianapolis Kansas News Racecar Graveyard

Dale Jr. drove this car to a career best finish at the Brickyard in 2012. Weeks later, it fell victim to a crash during a test session at Kansas Speedway.

Driver: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Car: No. 88 AMP Energy Chevrolet

Track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (July 29, 2012) and Kansas Speedway (Aug. 29, 2012)

Bio: Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s 2012 season was clicking along after a fourth-place finish with this car in the annual Brickyard 400. He and crew chief Steve Letarte had the No. 88 at the top of the point standings following the annual pilgrimage to the 2.5-mile rectangle on the west side of Indiana’s capital city, and JR Nation had visions of their man wearing that first series championship jacket a couple of months later in Florida.

It was a really clear vision, too. He’d broken a winless streak earlier in the season at Michigan, and he was finishing in the top five or 10 on a regular basis. Everything was humming along until he took the same car he’d raced at Indianapolis to Kansas Speedway for a tire test.

On Aug. 29, 2012, Earnhardt Jr. went into Turn 1 at the freshly repaved and reconfigured Kansas oval and suffered a tire failure. The impact, with the right side of the car, measured at 40 Gs. The car itself, owned by Hendrick Motorsports, found its way to the Racecar Graveyard after the crash.