LONG POND, Pa. -- This weekend, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will pilot the No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet in the Axalta "We Paint Winners" 400.
As Axalta celebrates its 150th anniversary, Earnhardt hopes driving the car in its namesake race will be a good omen.
"They’ve been a big part of Hendrick Motorsports for so many years working with Jeff (Gordon) and now this year with our car, so we’d love to take them to Victory Lane," he said of Axalta. "It would be great for them and great for our team as well, with the position we’re in. I feel like the summer is going to be a great opportunity for us to start to get some direction and regain some of our performance and maybe it’s starts this weekend."
This season, Earnhardt has earned five top-10 finishes, including four top-five finishes, and led 49 laps.
After earning three second-place results in the first eight races of the year, the driver of the No. 88 Chevy is looking to race back toward the front of the pack.
"I’m not too worried about where we are right now," he said. "We are not running bad. We took off at the start of the year, had some second-place finishes, thought we were right on the verge of winning and we struggled this month."
Since the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series visited Richmond International Raceway, Earnhardt's best finish has been 13th, and he finished outside of the top 30 at Talladega and Dover.
But he feels Pocono -- a track he swept in the 2014 season -- could provide some positives.
"It’s been a rough month, but I think we can turn it around here," he said. "This is a track where I really enjoy racing at and have had some good success here of late. It seems to be a track where we’ve been pretty consistent each time we show up."
His last trip to Pocono resulted in a fourth-place result.
Currently 13th in the standings, Earnhardt is looking for a big weekend.
"I think we should run great here," he said. "I’m not so much worried about end of the race results. I’m more concerned with consistent speed in the car and running up front throughout the day and having consistency on pit road and in the race car. I think we can do that this weekend and going forward.”
For both the No. 88 team and Hendrick Motorsports as a whole, Earnhardt believes good things are on the horizon.
"We are working really hard," he said. "I know that is sort of the company line every week, but we are. The guys are grinding and trying to find everything they can to get us a little more speed. This is going to be a great opportunity this weekend."
Earnhardt will roll off the grid eighth.
Sunday's race is scheduled for 1 p.m. on FOX Sports 1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Earnhardt will roll off the grid eighth.