After Bristol, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Closer To Clinching Chase Berth

For much of the summer, it seemed Dale Earnhardt Jr.‘s Chase hopes wouldn’t be determined until the checkered flag waved at Richmond.

But after Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway, there’s a chance Junior Nation might have reason to celebrate after Atlanta.

Earnhardt Jr. finished 16th on Saturday night at Bristol to retain ninth place in the Sprint Cup standings, but he expanded his lead over the 11th place driver by nine points.

Clint Bowyer trailed Earnhardt Jr. by 30 points entering Bristol, but a bad night (26th place) dropped him to 40 points back. Bristol winner Brad Keselowski is now the biggest threat to Earnhardt Jr., sitting 39 points behind in 11th place.

If Earnhardt Jr. can leave Atlanta having picked up nine more positions on Bowyer and Keselowski, he’ll clinch a Chase spot before Richmond.

“I saw the 33 (Bowyer) and the 14 (Stewart) having trouble,” Earnhardt Jr. said after the Bristol race. “I know the 2 (Keselowski) won. He’s gotta be getting pretty close to us or right on us to take a spot from me. But we put a little distance on the 14, who is in the same situation we are.”

How much time will Earnhardt Jr. spend looking at the point standings this week?

“About five minutes – I’ve got a pretty good memory,” he cracked.

As for his 16th-place Bristol finish, Earnhardt Jr. said he had a decent balance on the car but “we just weren’t fast.”

“I couldn’t ever get on the offense of anything,” he said. “I couldn’t ever get up on my car and attack anybody or chase ‘em down. If I caught somebody and passed ‘em, it was just because they were worse off than I was.

“Just hanging on all night, trying not to lose much, trying not to get run over.”

Earnhardt Jr. said his team missed a couple pieces of the puzzle at Bristol and added “we didn’t run to our potential at all.”

“We got to get a little better, you know? We’ve got to get a lot better,” he said. “But we worked really hard tonight.”

Asked what the team was missing, Earnhardt Jr. turned to crew chief Steve Letarte, who was standing nearby.

“I don’t know, what are we missing?” Earnhardt Jr. asked.

Whether or not the No. 88 team can figure out the answer before the Chase will determine how much of a championship contender it will be.