Dale Earnhardt Jr. ready for Atlanta Motor Speedway

by Jason Smith

Hendrick Motorsports driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. is looking forward to returning to Atlanta Motor Speedway this Sunday.

Even though his chances of winning his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship appear to be over, Dale Earnhardt Jr. still has plenty to look forward to, starting with this Sunday's Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

"I like running at Atlanta a lot," said Earnhardt Jr., who has one win, eight top-five and 10 top-10 finishes at the 1.54-mile track.

"It's a good race track and real, real fast. We have run really well there in the past, and coming off a good run like Martinsville last week, I think we have a good shot at it."

Earnhardt Jr.'s second-place finish at Martinsville on Sunday was his best finish in the 10-race Chase so far this season and gives the driver of the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet momentum heading to a track where he was third in the spring race after starting outside the pole. Obviously, he hopes to improve this weekend.

"A win would be great, but I really just want to keep running as good as we did last week," Earnhardt Jr. said.

Tony Eury Jr., the crew chief for the No. 88 team, is also itching to get back to Atlanta.

"I think that's one of Dale Jr.'s favorite tracks," Eury Jr. said. "We want to get there, try to get on the pole and fix what we didn't finish [in March]. We had a super car there at the start of the race. I'm really looking forward to getting back there and trying again."