If they only had time to sand it and recoat it, he said. Just one more time. Then it would really shine.
Although, he admitted with a laugh, then his group in the Nos. 5/88 team shop paint bay would be urging Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s No. 88 team to race the wrapped backup car instead of the hand-painted primary one.
Sipka, Donnie Floyd, Scott Nicholls and Glen Bobo spent two days and used 14 coats of DuPont paint to prepare the No. 88 Chevy for Saturday's 400-mile NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. Race coverage begins on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. ET on TNT.
Click here for more shots of the ACU (Army Combat Uniform) special paint scheme.
During the process, the crew sandwiched two stencils between three colors – desert tan, olive green and light green – before applying a coat of black paint to the top half of the Chevrolet. Finally, they pulled the stencils off when the last coat of paint had dried. Each piece of stencil the group removed revealed another color and gave the Chevrolet its camouflage look.
Earnhardt will unveil the paint scheme on Wednesday to National Guard soldiers and fans during the 2009 Battle of the Bands at the Bandshell in Daytona Beach, Fla. The event, which is open to the public, starts at 5 p.m. ET.
Earnhardt said he is honored to run the ACU camouflage paint scheme, which pays tribute to the National Guard soldiers who dedicate a portion of their time serving their nation, state and local communities.
"Working with the military means a lot because they are a big part of our sport overall, and to carry them on my car every weekend makes you pretty proud."
LOUDON, N.H. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. had one of the most satisfying 13th-place finishes in his NASCAR career Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Gas strategies and a rain-shortened race probably cost the crowd favorite a better finish, but Earnhardt ran well throughout the day, spending most of the 273 laps in the top 10 and running quite a bit in the top five.
"We ran good today," said Earnhardt, in only his sixth race with crew chief Lance McGrew. "I want to thank Lance and the team. ... They did a good, man, giving me a good car. I had fun today. I hope we can keep this up.
"Being around fifth and looking at the top five, that was great," he added. "Seeing the leaders most of the day in your windshield is better than where we have been."
Earnhardt moved up one spot in the standings to 19th with nine races remaining until the start of the Chase for the championship, which will include only the top 12 drivers.
"We are inching so slowly up back in to where we need to run," he said. "It is taking a while but, hopefully, we keep moving forward."
SONOMA, Calif. -- Rick Hendrick will meet with Brad Keselowski this coming week to discuss their 2010 options. Under consideration is placing the young driver with a team affiliated with Hendrick Motorsports.
Among the possibilities: a third entry at Stewart-Haas Racing, a full-time ride with James Finch's team, or staying put at JR Motorsports but moving that team to the Sprint Cup Series. Keselowski currently drives the No. 88 in the Nationwide Series for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who could move the team up to NASCAR's premier series.
"That's something that Dale and Kelley [Earnhardt, vice president and general manager of JR Motorsports] are looking at," Hendrick said before Sunday's race at Infineon Raceway. "That's a possibility."
After Keselowski drove Finch's car to his first Cup Series victory with a surprise April win at Talladega, he agreed to a period of exclusive negotiations with Hendrick about a long-term contract. Keselowski wants to run in the Cup Series next year, but NASCAR's four-car limit means Hendrick doesn't have an open seat for 2010.
"We're looking at different options with some of our external situations with other teams, and I told Brad that I want him to have the best opportunity," Hendrick said. "If we can't give it to him, then I want him to have the best. He wants to do something that is somehow associated with our company and we're working on it and hopefully in the next few weeks we'll have something sorted out.
"He'll be running Cup. Whether he'll be running them all or whether he'll be running 75 percent of them or what, I don't know."
Keselowski is running a limited schedule this season for both Hendrick and Finch, and could do it again next year. Hendrick believes NASCAR would allow him to field a fifth car next year for Keselowski in seven races.
Business is good
Hendrick Motorsports wasn't spared from General Motors' funding cuts earlier this week, but the team owner said he was prepared for the reductions.
GM cut all funding to its Nationwide and Truck Series teams, and it reduced its support of Sprint Cup Series teams as the manufacturer restructures under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Both Richard Childress Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing have acknowledged funding was reduced to its programs in meetings with GM earlier this week.
Hendrick had the same meeting, but had already made changes to his four-car organization in preparation for the cuts.
"I've been kind of, for a year or better, thinking that this could happen," Hendrick said. "We've been trying to address things and do things a little bit differently. We've been trying to cover our bases for about a year. Everybody is having to make adjustments, but it's not going to change the way we race or how we show up on the race track.
"I've been telling our guys the only way I could see GM surviving long-term was to go into bankruptcy. I've been saying that for over a year, so we've been kind of expecting it."
Hendrick also is in a unique position of potentially replacing the money through his leasing programs with other race teams. SHR buys cars and leases engines from Hendrick, and Stewart has said he's considering adding a third team next season -- which would give Hendrick even more business.
Another potential partner is Red Bull Racing, which is considering leaving Toyota for Chevrolet next season. If the team does switch, it would likely lease motors from Hendrick. Red Bull general manager Jay Frye had a similar arrangement when he ran now-defunct Ginn Racing.
"I'm going to stop racing and build cars and sell motors," joked Hendrick. "You don't turn down any business these days. Probably what I'll see, we'll convert some of the other programs if it comes to pass.
"We've worked with Jay Frye for so many years, and Tony and them, that's a seamless deal for us."
"'Most loved' (means) everybody likes you. The most popular is whether you're doing good, bad or whatever. They write about you and talk about you. You've got more people calling in to radio shows talking about me than you do Junior. You got more writers and everyone in the media talking about me than talking about Junior."
(Jealous, jealous, jealous)
"Seems to me there's a pretty big difference."
(Yeah, the only difference is that they are two different words.)
No comment yet from Dale, but I'll be sure to add them if I find any.
Opened in 1968, then-Sears Point Raceway was constructed on 720 acres of property that was a working dairy farm in the early 1900s. The facility hosted its first official event, an SCCA Enduro, on Dec. 1 of that year.
Since then, the facility has grown and expanded into one of the premier motor sports venues in the country, hosting 340 days of racing activity each year, including the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NHRA POWERade Drag Racing and the IndyCar® Series.
BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Kyle Busch was at it again Friday, bigger than ever, insulting vast new masses -- Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s whole fan base.
And Lance McGrew, Earnhardt's new crew chief, laughed loud and long at that.
It started when Busch was asked about the public controversy over his smashing a trophy guitar in Victory Lane after winning a Nationwide race at Nashville last week.
"It was fun and a lot of people enjoyed it and thought it was different -- the sport's not so vanilla," Busch said.
And then, as has happened every couple of weeks lately, Busch just couldn't help himself.
"A lot of people hated it and I guess those are the ones with '88' [Earnhardt's current car number] tattooed on their arms," Busch continued, his little smile growing ever more mischievous. "Or maybe still '8' [Earnhardt's old car number]."
His cannon thus primed and loaded, Busch fired: "I've got no issues with Junior -- it's his fans that are crazy, but that's all right."
Then Busch poured it on. With all the hoopla over the guitar smashing, "Sounds to me like the most popular driver award goes to Kyle Busch this year, right?" he said.
The obvious reference was to Earnhardt's perennial recognition -- by fan balloting, cheers in the stands and merchandise sales -- as far and away NASCAR's most popular driver.
At the very idea Busch would call out Earnhardt's legions, McGrew could manage only "That's pure Kyle" between spells of laughter.
McGrew, who replaced Tony Eury Jr. as Earnhardt's crew chief 15 days ago, once worked with Busch in the Nationwide Series when Busch was at Hendrick Motorsports.
"He's amazingly talented -- unbelievably," McGrew said of Busch. "But, boy, when he says something -- what comes up comes out. There's no doubt about it."
McGrew found the good laugh useful. He and Earnhardt had a lot more on their plates Friday than just the jab du jour from Busch.
Earnhardt is defending champion of Sunday's Lifelock 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
Or, put another way in light of Earnhardt's dismal slump -- which led to his separation from Eury -- this weekend marks a full year since Earnhardt has won a Sprint Cup race.
Further, Earnhardt had to deal with the removal of cash support from Chevrolet from his own JR Motorsports, which fields Nationwide cars, due to Chevrolet's bankruptcy.
Earnhardt had so much on his mind Friday that he didn't understand my question -- or maybe I wasn't clear enough -- about Busch's latest shots.
I termed them "the latest Kyle-ism" to Earnhardt, and other journalists standing near us told me, after he'd returned to his hauler, that he must have thought I said "columnist" before I told him the latest.
But leave it to my ESPN colleague Marty Smith to point out that at least part of Earnhardt's answer was entirely applicable.
"My fans handle themselves well and they're good people," Earnhardt said. "So I think anyone who would be calling them out and stirring them up is causing problems not only for himself but everyone else in this sport."
Perhaps the driver who best understood how much Busch had bitten off this time was Jimmie Johnson, Earnhardt's Hendrick Motorsports teammate.
"Kyle, I'm sure, at points, regrets stirring up the pot," Johnson said. "But at other times I think he thrives on it …
"He's already got the fans on him, but now I think he's getting them upset in a whole new wave," Johnson continued. "Who knows? He's probably loving it."
Clearly, Busch is. His latest volley came on top of his remark two weeks ago at Dover, Del., about Earnhardt's crew chief change, that "It's never Junior; it's always the crew chief."
That on top of "I'm proud of the fact that I'm outperforming a guy [Earnhardt] that replaced me at Hendrick," which Busch said at Martinsville in March.
And that on top of "There's probably too much pressure on one guy's shoulders who doesn't seem to win very often," which Busch said at Bristol, also in March.
Since Earnhardt replaced Busch at Hendrick Motorsports and Busch moved to Joe Gibbs Racing at the beginning of 2008, Busch has won 11 Cup races to Earnhardt's one.
But Earnhardt on Friday expressed hope that he could actually break his year-old slump here Sunday.
Isn't it too soon in the rebuilding process to think about an outright win?
"Oh, no," Earnhardt said. "You show up every week thinking you can win and hoping you can win. So it's not too soon to think about that."
As for Chevrolet's cutting of funding to his Nationwide team, Earnhardt characterized the manufacturer's cash percentage of his budget as "small, very small. The sponsorships obviously are the biggest part of our budget. Our relationship with Chevrolet was more just about brand loyalty."
Earnhardt and McGrew were at first deeply disappointed in their 27th-place finish at Pocono last Sunday, their second outing together. But they were relieved to find the reason -- a broken suspension part -- when they returned to the Hendrick compound.
"When you get a call from Mr. H [team owner Rick Hendrick], obviously that's going to concern you," McGrew said. "He was curious about what happened last weekend, and so were we."
So they did a sort of autopsy of their car. "We found a little mechanical issue," McGrew said. "We feel like we nailed that down, and we understand what happened, and did some stuff to keep it from happening again."
Even the mechanical failure was a boost to Earnhardt's confidence in his midrace diagnostics.
"In the middle part of the race I'd commented to the engineer that I thought that part had failed," Earnhardt said. "It's pretty good to be able to point at something and say, 'Here's the problem.'"
As for Earnhardt's general state of mind, "I think he's fine," McGrew said, and broke into baseball pitcher rehab lingo. "We're working on getting his slider back, a little confidence back, and trying to stay on the same page. So far, so good."
Earnhardt had become notorious for grumbling to Eury on the radio during bad outings, but at Pocono, "He really didn't," McGrew said.
"He's definitely trying. There is no doubt about it," McGrew continued. "I can definitely tell. He wants to be more involved in the whole program. He's asking better questions. He's giving better feedback. He's definitely engaged."
So Busch has backed off Junior. And taken on his legions.
And just think: There are still 21 more Fridays left in the season for Busch to meet with the media.
"If [Earnhardt] doesn't run well, then [McGrew's] going to be the problem again. It's never [Earnhardt]: It's always the crew chief." - The Vile One
Dale was asked what he thought of Kyle's comment -Kyle was then asked if he felt there was a rivalry (again) between he and Dale -
"I really don't see how that argument really is that relevant to anything and I don't even know really what kind of problem he has or what kind of solution he wants. I don't really get into it" - Junebug
"It was fun and a lot of people enjoyed it and thought it was different -- the sport's not so vanilla. A lot of people hated it and I guess those are the ones with '88' tattooed on their arms... or maybe still '8'."
One reporter commented with a laugh, "You and Dale." To which Kyle replied --"I've got no issues with Junior -- it's his fans that are crazy, but that's all right."
Then just to add to the already immature amount of comments he had already made, he added this -"Sounds to me like the most popular driver award goes to Kyle Busch this year, right?"
"My fans handle themselves well and they're good people. So I think anyone who would be calling them out and stirring them up is causing problems not only for himself but everyone else in this sport."
I'll keep up with this "rivalry" and add in anything else if it happens to be said.
