Dale Earnhardt Jr. is getting back together with one of his favorite ladies – but fiancée Amy Reimann has nothing to worry about.
Just in time for Sunday’s Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, Earnhardt is bringing back “Amelia,” the near-legendary car that has been his No. 1 choice on superspeedway tracks over the last five years.
Crew chief Greg Ives tweeted Monday morning that Amelia – a.k.a. Chassis No. 88-872 – is back together after being damaged in a wreck in the season-opening Daytona 500.
And if past results are any indication, Amelia and her new facelift once again will carry Junior to yet another win at Talladega, where he already has six career triumphs on NASCAR’s longest (2.66 miles) racetrack.
Amelia really shined last year when Junior drove her to wins at Daytona in July and ‘Dega in May, as well as a third in the Daytona 500 and a runner-up in October at Talladega.
Junior was hoping to take Amelia to Victory Lane in this year’s Daytona 500, but he wrecked 31 laps from the finish and placed 36th.
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In case you’re not fully up on your Dale Jr. history, he named the car Amelia in honor of famed female aviator Amelia Earhart.
“A car gets named when you drive it long enough to see a personality, typically,” Earnhardt told NASCAR.com earlier this year in explaining how Amelia’s name came about. “The fact that we’re going to keep running it, I said, ‘We gotta name it’ and we were thinking of a woman who has accomplished something that was an awesome person that was something we could be proud of.
“Amelia Earhart was the first thing that came to my mind.”
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