Dale Earnhardt Jr.‘s comeback season hit a road bump in Richmond.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Not Discouraged After Dropping From Top 12
A bad adjustment and pit call put Earnhardt Jr. behind, and a flat tire gained by battling for position with Bobby Labonte virtually ended the No. 88 car’s night.
Earnhardt Jr. finished 32nd, three laps behind the leaders, and fell to 13th in points. It tied his worst finish of the season (Fontana) and marked the first time he had finished outside the top 16 in eight races.
That had to be a pretty frustrating race, right?
“No, not really,” Earnhardt Jr. said, walking briskly toward his hauler to get changed out of his uniform for the flight home. “It wasn’t that frustrating. We had a real good car the first run, got up through there to the top 15.”
But that “real good car” didn’t last after an adjustment on an early pit stop made the car get “way off,” he said.
"We took some air out of the left rear and that's not smart," Earnhardt Jr. said. "That ain't real smart. We can't ever touch the left-rear air pressure. The cars don't like that."
When the car’s handling went away, it set off a chain of events that ruined the evening. Earnhardt Jr. was among the many cars lapped by race leader Kyle Busch on the first long green-flag run, but crew chief Lance McGrew elected to have the No. 88 pit instead of take the “wave around” and return to the lead lap.
A caution came out again just a few laps later, but McGrew had Earnhardt Jr. pit again instead of get back on the lead lap, electing to make adjustments on the car that would allow the No. 88 to be in position for the free pass at the next caution.
It never happened. While racing hard with Bobby Labonte for the free pass spot, Earnhardt Jr. said he got a flat tire and had to pit (though replays also showed earlier contact with Paul Menard).
So did Earnhardt Jr. wish the team had decided to take the wave around instead of pitting?
“Yeah, sure,” he said quickly. “Hindsight, sure. But it is what it is.”
Toward the end of the race, Earnhardt Jr. said he was running competitively with Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya (who were both in the top five at the time), but it was far too late.
“I was just riding behind ‘em,” he said. “I didn’t want to get in their way, but I could have passed them. The car was just fine. We drove up right through there on that first run. But we got off. Got too loose.”
See More:
