Dale Earnhardt Jr. got off to a fast start this year with a win at the Daytona 500 to open the season. But entering the Chase to the Sprint Cup, Earnhardt said he and his team have to refocus if they want to win the championship.
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"We've been sort of on a vacation for 20 weeks," Earnhardt said after Saturday's final Chase qualifying race, the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway. "It's time to get to it.
"We've been locked in and really on a holiday for 20 weeks or so, since we've been locked in," he continued, referring to the strong start to the season. "It's time to get serious, get down to business, get our heads straight and get ready."
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Despite earning two more wins during the regular season, Earnhardt saying he and his team were on "vacation" cannot bode well for his title hopes. He will be the third seed in the Chase but hasn't done well recently, finishing 39th, 11th and 12th in his last three Cup races. Still, Earnhardt believes he will be competitive in the Chase.
"We're going to try and prepare as good as we can, get our minds right and ready for this Chase," he said at Richmond. "It's going to be a completely different atmosphere than what we've done in the regular season."
This year's Chase will see 16 drivers competing for the championship, with three rounds of eliminations to dwindle the field to four by the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The field is deep, led by top-seeded Brad Keselowski, Earnhardt's Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne, and Joey Logano.
"I don't think there's any favorites. I know there's some strong teams obviously that are running really good right now," Earnhardt said. "With the way this thing is structured, it's sort of structured to balance the playing field a little more and really give everybody a little bit more guesswork on who these guys are going to be that get eliminated and who are the guys that are going to keep moving forward. It's going to be tough. You're going to have to put together some damn good races."
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