Dale Earnhardt Jr. made his first trip to Sears Point Raceway this week for a NASCAR Winston Cup Test Session, and he won’t soon forget it. Earnhardt Jr., who was joined in the Tuesday-Wednesday session by #18-Bobby Labonte, #43-John Andretti and 31-Steve Park, survived several spins on the twisting 10-turn, 1.94-mile road course and came away with much-needed experience. NASCAR comes to Sears Point Raceway June 22-25 for the Save Mart/Kragen 350. Earnhardt Jr. turned one of his best laps in the Wednesday morning session at 1 minute, 13.4 seconds(95.150mph). Park reported the fastest time of the session at 1:12.12(96.839mph), followed by Andretti (1:12.55 – 96.265mph) and Labonte (1:13.1 – 95.540mph). Andretti has placed third the last two years at Sears Point, while Labonte was 27th a year ago. Earnhardt Jr. prepared for the test session by using a simulator, but still found the terrain tough. He twice suffered spins exiting Turn 7, both times landing in the gravel trap. Boris Said, who won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Sears Point in 1998, served as a personal coach to both Earnhardt Jr. and Park during the session(Sears Point PR)(4-26-2000)
