Dale Earnhardt Jr. shared the secret weapon that helped him win with the famous Batman paint scheme at Michigan

Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently spoke about the time he won the Quicken Loans 400 at the Michigan International Speedway, thanks to Batman. Junior piloted his legendary #88 Chevrolet to the victory lane for the first time in four years, thus snapping a 143-race winless streak. However, there was a secret about the Batman-themed car that helped the Hall of Famer bag the win.

There was a time when skewing was a common practice in the arena of NASCAR. Skewing refers to pointing the car at an angle where the nose of the car would be slightly tilted to the inside, whereas the car would steer forth in a different direction. Skewing helped a lot in packing speed in the car.

In a recent episode of the Dale Jr Podcast, the two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champion said:

"We were learning that skew in the car was really good. Well, NASCAR made some rule changes that would eliminate the ability to lock the rear end and just set the car up with the rear end in it crooked. You could shim it, and bolt it tight and it would be there. Just drive the car and it run crooked. We had to figure out how to get that skew back."

According to a statement made by former Xfinity Series driver Elliott Sadler, as reported by ESPN, skewing is what makes a car faster than the others on the field.

Skew is the magic word," Sadler explained. "Skew is speed. The No. 1 thing we know in our sport right now is if I can get more skew in my car than you can get in your car, I'm going to run faster than you. Period."

Even though NASCAR prohibited skewing after that, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team, along with then-crew chief Steve Letarte, conjured a way to replicate what skewing does to a stock car. They did so by making a few adjustments to the trailing arms in the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Impala.

"We found a way. We were able to put a bushing in the left or the right trailing arm that when the car traveled, the sway bar pulled the left side of the rear end housing forward. And so, we figured that out," Junior said.

Unfortunately, NASCAR found out what the HMS team was doing and therefore, '"outlawed" a certain part of the sway bar. Still, Brad Keselowski and Team Penske team figured out a way to pack speed on the number 2 Mustang, en route to the 2012 Cup Series Championship.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 12th on points while his teammate, Jimmie Johnson, wound up in P3 behind Keselowski and Clint Bowyer.

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Throwback to the "Hero face-off" between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson

When the movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice released in 2016, the rivalry between the caped crusader and the Man of Steel found its way into NASCAR's ovals in the most thrilling manner. Needless to say, the playful rivals were Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson.

The movie sponsored the rides of both drivers in the 2016 Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway. Despite having no say in choosing his superhero, Johnson was elated when he got Superman.

"Superman’s going to kick Batman’s butt, bottom line,” Johnson said in a statement as reported by NASCAR. "I didn’t have a say, but I was very happy to end up with Superman."

Here are the two X tweets made by the drivers announcing their respective paint schemes for the Hero face-off:

However, Superman proved stronger in the end as Jimmie Johnson took home the win, which was also his second victory of the year, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished the race 11th.