New car for Earnhardt Jr.

One of the three tracks NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams tested at before the season started was Las Vegas Motor Speedway, site of this weekend's races.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a good test at Vegas, but his team decided to build a new car for the race using the data collected from the test.
Earnhardt Jr. is coming off a 40th-place finish at the newly named Auto Club Speedway, where he was taken out in a crash with his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Casey Mears, and said he's hoping for better luck in Vegas.
"I hate it for my team that we ended up in an early wreck," said Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "I know with the rainout and everything, the team had to stay another day just to run 40th all day. But we're here to race, and, believe me, they fixed that wrecked car so good we were running in the top-five on the speed charts with it. It says a lot about my guys, and the dedication they have. I hope we have better luck in Vegas."
Rather than use the car Earnhardt Jr. tested, his team decided to build a new car, one of NASCAR's Cars of Tomorrow. Tony Eury Jr., Earnhardt Jr.'s crew chief, said the COT has evened out the playing field in NASCAR and his team learns something new about it every day.
"We had a real good test in Vegas last month," Eury Jr. said. "We learned a lot about the track and decided that, instead of running the car we tested, to build a new car based on the data we collected. We're unloading this new car we built blind as a frog. Seriously, every week we run this, we will get better at it."