TALLADEGA, Ala. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. was fine with the chaotic ending to Sunday’s CampingWorld.com 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, his devoted fans not so much.
Earnhardt needed to win the Contender Round to ensure his survival into the eliminator round and the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports driver found himself on the front row alongside Joey Logano for what was thought to be the one and only green-white-checkered restart.
Then, the field bobbled before the start-finish line which forced NASCAR to make a quick decision and declare the restart was not official as the cars had not made it to the start-finish line.
So, the field was stacked up again and they wrecked.
Hard.
NASCAR threw the caution with Earnhardt and Logano nearly even on the race track, but soon after the race was called official, Joey Logano was handed the victory and swept the second round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Earnhardt finished second. And despite a valiant effort, NASCAR’s most popular driver won’t contend for the championship at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) International Speedway next month.
“I’m glad this weekend’s over with,” Earnhardt said in his post-race press conference. “I felt like crap all weekend. Just been real nervous, feeling sick to my stomach.”
But even in pure agonizing defeat, Earnhardt showed pure class, moments after being eliminated from contention.
“I just wanted to go out there, whatever happened, put forth a good account of myself, my team. I’m real proud of what we did today. So I can feel good about that. I felt like, per the rule
book, it sorted out and I finished second. I’m okay with that. We could argue they could have waited another hundred foot to throw the caution, but they didn’t have to. They threw it when they needed to. I’m fine with that.”
Earnhardt didn’t shy away from the truth that if the first two rounds of the Contender Round had gone better, his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports wouldn’t have been in a must-win situation in one of NASCAR’s most volatile races.
“I can look back on a lot of different things that put me in this situation right now, starting with the first two races in this round where we didn’t run well. We got wrecked by the 19, and just didn’t run well at Kansas.”
Throughout the day, Earnhardt Jr saw his championship hopes fade, but in his pure restrictor plate craft, he rebounded much like to the strength of his legendary father on plate tracks, dazzling his competitors and fans alike. When fumbles on pit road thought to be too hard to overcome, Earnhardt Jr. answered positively.
“Just real happy with how we ran today,” added Earnhardt. “I’m more proud of the drive I had today than the two wins (Talladega – May; Daytona – July) this year. The two wins came a lot easier than this second place did.
“A lot of good stuff happening out there today. It was great. I thought I had a loose wheel, but I wheel hopped the car coming on to pit road, and it might have been something in the rear end. I got to shut up about loose wheels. Every time I have vibration, I say ‘loose wheel’. I know my changers aren’t happy with that when it’s not a loose wheel.
“My guys had an issue on pit road coming off the wall too soon. I also came into that box real careful because I didn’t want to slide. I think they were anticipating me rolling in the box sooner. That was probably a little bit my fault, my responsibility. My crew guys, over the wall guys, are getting a little rough treatment here lately. The guys I got, if we stick together, we’re going to be great next year. I believe in them.”
And despite not having the opportunity to contend for the Championship Round on November 22 in South Florida, Earnhardt Jr. still plans to race his heart out, the rest of the season, much like he did Sunday.
We were disappointed last year when we left Talladega. But we went to Martinsville and sort of surprised ourselves with our first win there. If we can go to the racetrack and win, it certainly makes our situation much more bearable. If we could go to Homestead and run well, I’d love to win there. Never won there. I like that track. Running against the wall is a lot of fun. We’ll see.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
