Junior on his chances for Daytona 500 win

Dale Earnhardt Jr has a chance to make history in Sunday’s Daytona 500 – no driver has ever swept Speedweeks with a win in the Bud Shootout, a win in the Gatorade Duels, and a biq win in the Daytona 500.

With his dominating performances so far Junior looks to at least have a shot at the Daytona triple – but, according to Dale Jr, he’s not the favorite to win.

“I feel like we’ve got a shot, you know what I mean,” Earnhardt said.

“Nobody’s boastful enough, I don’t think, personality-wise to come in

here and claim that (they are the favorite.” I wouldn’t expect anybody to do that.

“But I thought we’ve got a great shot. We’ve won some races down here,

so we’ve got to be in the group, if there’s a group of them.”

Junior’s driver rating is a mediocre 83.2 (13th best), but that’s

because his finishes in both Daytona races last year were 36th and 32nd.

He knows how to race at Daytona and has two wins and nine top 10s in 16

starts. He also won the Bud Shootout and the first Gatorade Duel 150.

After setting the fastest time in NASCAR ‘Pre-season Thunder’ testing at Daytona Dale Earnhardt Jr backed it up with a win in the 2008 Bud Shootout.Today he proved his stuff once again – winning the first of 2 Gatorade Duels at Daytona.

The win gave Dale Jr a 3rd place starting spot for Sunday’s Daytona 500 – He will start inside the 2nd row, just behind teammate Jimmie Johnson.The win was Earnhardt’s 12th win at Daytona International Speedway.

Officially the No. 88 Chevrolet Junior drove to victory was known as Hendrick Motorsports chassis No. 88-475, but Junior and the race team have named the car ‘Emma’ – the car is named after the original Emma built by Robert Gee for Rick Hendrick 2 decades ago. Robert Gee was Junior’s grandfather – and Emma was Gee’s Mother’s name.Geoff Bodine and Tim Richmond both won races driving the original Emma.

“My grandfather named one of his favorite race cars 'Emma.' It's a tribute to him and the Gee family. It makes me proud," said Earnhardt.

"Robert Gee's 'Emma,' she was a beautiful race car, said Frank Edwards, one of the original 5 employees if Rick Hendrick’s race team. “He would spend as much time making the bumper look right as he would putting the engine in it. It had several different front ends for the car. Tim Richmond won races in it, and Geoff Bodine won Darlington in it.” “That car has a soul to it. That's one of the few cars I've ever seen that you just have a different feeling about it. Even if I didn't grow up around here, which I did, I would still feel like there's just something when I'm around that car. And it just feels like, you know, when someone's around you, and you can just feel that presence? That's how I feel around that car. It's like it's alive. Like there's something there."