NOTEBOOK: Junior unhappy with crew questions

DARLINGTON — Dale Earnhardt Jr. wasn’t in the best of moods at Darlington Raceway on Friday.

Some of it might have had to do with the hot and muggy conditions the drivers had to endure.

But most of it came when the topic of his pit crew, which made the wrong adjustment during a stop in last Saturday night’s race at Richmond, was brought up.

“It don’t help nothing to talk about it. Not for me,” said Earnhardt, who finished 27th at Richmond. “My team has had enough (stuff) from everybody else. I don’t need to weigh in on it. Ya’ll saw what happened and ya’ll can say what you want to say. We’re working on it and we’re trying to fix it.”

Friday isn’t the only time Earnhardt’s crew has come into question. Rumors on the Internet the last few weeks have had his crew chief, Tony Eury Jr., and Mark Martin’s crew chief, Alan Gustafson, swapping places.

Gustafson shot that down, saying he and car owner Rick Hendrick haven’t had any conversations and he is happy to be working with Martin, who announced this week he will race a full schedule next year.

“I heard the same things last year with the No. 24 (Jeff Gordon) and heard how bad Steve Letarte was. That changes pretty quick,” Gustafson said. “Not really sure where that rumor came from but, my point of view is that I feel really, really fortunate to work with Mark. Anybody would. They’re going to have to shoehorn me out of there.”

Lake City football helping NASCAR foundation

Members of the Lake City football team are spending this weekend at the track, raising money for the NASCAR Foundation.

The team is selling $5 pins outside the frontstretch in conjunction with NASCAR Day on May 15. All monies raised will go to the NASCAR Foundation, which supports charities such as the Victory Junction Gang.

“We try to do something different each year to help people and let our kids understand what’s out there,” said Lake City coach Justin Gentry, who got the idea from one of his assistants’ wives. “It’s a good opportunity and something they will remember for a lifetime.”

Gentry gave his players extra incentive by giving two tickets for tonight’s race to the player who sells the most pins.

The team also got a chance to take a tour of the Nationwide garage area and meet drivers Scott LaGasse and Michael Arnett.

“This has been great and I can’t believe how fast these cars are going,” junior offensive lineman Kevin Graham said.

Ticket update

Darlington Raceway president Chris Browning said less than 5,000 tickets remain for tonight’s race, putting the track’s sellout streak in jeopardy.

Darlington has sold out the previous four years since its race moved to Mother’s Day weekend.

“It’s a little bit of a long shot, but there’s still a shot at it. We’ll just have to see,” Browning said. “We had a good day today and we’ll be selling all the way until the green flag drops.”

Fan texting service makes debut

A new texting service will begin this weekend at Darlington and will be implemented at all 12 International Speedway tracks.

The system allows fans to communicate with the track’s command post if any assistance is needed for things like unruly fans, medical emergencies or other track issues. Instructions are placed at various places at the track.

The system was tested last year at Homestead-Miami Speedway and is similar to the one used in Major League Baseball and NFL stadiums.

“It’s exciting to roll it out here. It’s seemed to work well in other sports,” Browning said. “It gives fans another amenity to make their experience a good one.”

Remembering Poole

A spot in the media center has been reserved for David Poole, the Charlotte Observer’s NASCAR writer who died of a heart attack at age 50 last week.

They said it

“It’s like driving down a bad alley.” — Tony Stewart on how tough it is to race at Darlington.

“Thank God it’s over.” — Joey Logano on his radio after his qualifying attempt at Darlington.

“Watch this. It’s going to be big.” — Ryan Newman as a replay of his wreck with Carl Edwards at Talladega came on TV in the media center.