Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins the 2014 Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway

An emotional Dale Earnhardt Jr. took the victory in Sunday’s NASCAR race at Martinsville Speedway, narrowly beating teammate Jeff Gordon at the Virginia short track.

Earnhardt, who was eliminated last week from the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, earned his fourth victory of the year and his first victory on NASCAR’s oldest track. The race was the first one in the three-race Eliminator Round, meaning none of the eight drivers still in contention for the championship have guaranteed themselves a spot in the Nov. 16 finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Race-deciding moment

Out front when a caution for a wreck involving Marcos Ambrose and Kyle Larson slowed the race with 11 laps to go, Earnhardt and crew chief Steve Letarte had a decision to make. Should they forgo the lead and pit for fresh tires, or gamble and stay out? In the end, it wasn’t much of a decision.

Remembering a Martinsville race from 2012 where he kept Earnhardt out late on old tires, Letarte called his driver to pit road. When Earnhardt returned to the track he was fifth behind Tony Stewart, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and David Ragan, all of whom did not stop, and Clint Bowyer in fourth when the race was restarted with seven laps remaining.

Aggressively, Earnhardt worked his way to second with little haste. He then powered under Stewart off Turn 4 to capture the lead. From there, Earnhardt drove away for the memorable victory.

“We’ve been trying to win here for so many years,” Earnhardt said. “This place is so special to me; I’ve wanted to win here so bad. It’s a real emotional win. This team on pit road was great and Steve and the guys did a real good job all day. They gave me a great shot at it there with the call at the end to take tires. I can’t believe we won here. This means so much to all of us. It’s just real emotional.”

Gordon finished second, followed by Ryan Newman, Stewart and Joey Logano.

Special victory for Hendrick Motorsports

Earnhardt’s win was especially poignant for team owner Rick Hendrick. Sunday’s triumph came on the same weekend of the 10-year anniversary of a plane that crashed on its way to Martinsville, killing 10 people, including Hendrick’s son, brother and two nieces.

“I lost my daddy a long time ago and I know how hard that is,” Earnhardt said. “I can’t imagine losing the magnitude of people that Rick lost. My heart goes out to him during this weekend. I love that his cars are good here to get to victory. This honors them.”

Said Gordon, who led a race-high 130 laps: “I thought we had the car to beat. Those last couple of laps were just wild. This means so much to Hendrick Motorsports. It’s the best way to pay tribute to everyone we lost 10 years ago.”

Championship favorites encounter trouble

The playoff fortunes of Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski took dramatic turns at Martinsville.

Harvick was the victim of an accidental tap from Matt Kenseth, which sent him spinning into the Turn 2 wall. Having incurred significant damage, Harvick was forced to the garage for repairs.

A mechanical failure initially thought to be a broken axel prompted Keselowski to slow with 65 laps to go. As the No. 2 car fell off the pace, Casey Mears then rear-ended Keselowski, causing a multi-car pileup on the frontstretch.

Keselowski finished 31st. Harvick, who eventually returned to the track, finished 33rd. Both were considered favorites to advance past Round 3 of the Chase for the Sprint Cup and qualify for the Nov. 16 championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. They will now need a win in the next two weeks to avoid elimination.

Harvick had started 33rd, but was sixth at the time of the incident.

“The good thing about this format is you have two more weeks and two race tracks that we can win on,” Harvick said. “Everybody was so worried about us starting in the back and we wrecked at the front. Unfortunate.”

Chase roundup

A non-Chaser, Earnhardt’s victory assures two of the four drivers advancing to Homestead will do so via their Round 3 points position. Chase drivers finished: Gordon second; Newman third; Logano fifth; Kenseth sixth; Denny Hamlin eighth; Carl Edwards 20th; Keselowski 31st; and Kevin Harvick 33rd.

Chase look ahead

The second race of the three-race Eliminator Round is Nov. 2 at Texas Motor Speedway. Jimmie Johnson is the defending winner.