Hendrick adds test session at Milwaukee
Although Dale Earnhardt Jr. admits he might grumble when he's asked to work more in the middle of the week than he did in previous years, he knows it's for the right reason: winning.
"I told Rick, 'I'm going to complain, but I'm going to do it anyway,"' Earnhardt said during a brief break Tuesday afternoon. "And I like to shoot off at the mouth and complain about things, but everybody likes to blow off some steam. I'll test as much as I need to test — whatever we need to do as well as we need to do."
"Rick personally wanted to add some tests, and I hear that that's not uncommon for him to come in and say, 'Guys, get to work for a couple of weeks and go to the racetrack during the week and see what you learn,"' Earnhardt said.
Hendrick had three of its four teams at Milwaukee on Tuesday, including Casey Mears and Jimmie Johnson.
"We work hard every year, but this year we've tested more than pretty much any other year," two-time series champion Johnson said. "I'd say my rookie year was the only year we tested more. We're running well, but we want to run better. We liked the success we had last year, and we're trying to find out the areas we need to work on."
Most top teams test frequently, but Earnhardt was surprised how much more testing he's doing at Hendrick.
"We've tested six, seven times in the last two months," Earnhardt said. "And I wouldn't test six or seven times in a year before."