FORT WORTH, Tex. – Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s sour start to the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season came to an end in Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500, earning a fifth-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway.
The finish wasn’t easy for Earnhardt who had to start the 334-lap race 37th after his Hendrick Motorsports team could not could their car through pre-qualifying inspection on Friday afternoon.
However, even with the deep start, Earnhardt could use a fast No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet and the progression of a second lane at the newly repaved 1.5-mile speedway to pick off his competitors and challenge for his best finish since a second-place at Pocono Raceway last June.
After sitting out 18 races last year due to concussion-like symptoms, Earnhardt returned to the track in February at Daytona International Speedway and was leading the Daytona 500 when he was collected in a crash.
Since then, he could manage a best finish of 14th at Phoenix Raceway in March until Sunday.
“I figured we would get one sooner or later, but it’s nice,” said Earnhardt. “I know our fans are really pulling for us. Could have finished a little better, we will take top five.”
What many didn’t realize, after the race Earnhardt was extremely fatigued after experiencing cooling issues with his helmet during the 500-mile race.
“It was warm,” he said. “I thought the car was pretty warm all weekend, but our air conditioner wasn’t doing very good job today. We’ve just got to relocate the outlet or the inlet to give it a better opportunity to get some air. But, with the wind, as windy as it is here you’ve got to put that thing in a more opportune place.
“It’s kind of like a vacuum it’s pulling air out of the helmet it’s going one side of the track. I just ran with the visor up the whole day. I was happy to see that caution late to get us some Gatorade and cool off a little bit. It was hot.”
While Earnhardt has taken a greater interest of his health recently, he doesn’t contribute this weekend’s activities as a contributing factor in the fatigue.
“It’s just warm all weekend and my helmet blower wasn’t working,” he explained. “I just had to run with the visor up. The wind is blowing so hard it’s really working against you on one-half of the track. I rode 40 miles on the bike. Twenty Friday and 20 Saturday, but Jimmie (Johnson) rode about 100, so that is no excuse.”
Initially, there were some concern six races in that Hendrick Motorsports, despite the steady and solid performances from Chase Elliott were winless. However, with teammate Jimmie Johnson collecting his 81st career Cup win and Earnhardt earning back-to-back top-five runs at Texas, the slow start seems to have fizzled out.
At least, they hope.
“Felt like we were pretty good and we ran with the cars, the No. 78 and the guys that have been really fast,” added Earnhardt. “I think the No. 2 car and the No. 22 car have been really the class of the field. I saw those guys weaving after the race and downshifting hard to reset their housing, so we have to figure out what they are doing and see if we can’t make it better.”
Earnhardt adds, he likes Texas too.
“I mean we ran in the top six here like seven times in a row it seems like, crazy,” he said. “I like the track. I like the repave. We saw the second groove come in a little bit.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
