NASCAR Kentucky 2014: Dale Earnhardt Jr. scores another top-5 finish

A late-night conversation with his crew chief was the catalyst Dale Earnhardt Jr. needed to finish fifth Saturday at Kentucky Speedway.

The talk between Earnhardt and Steve Letarte occurred after Earnhardt posted the 29th-fastest time in qualifying on Friday. Earnhardt wasn’t happy with the handling of his Chevrolet and was uncertain what changes, if any, the No. 88 team could make.

Eventually, Letarte found a setup and the results paid dividends. On a night where many struggled to pass, Earnhardt was able to work his way from the rear of the field towards the front.

The top-five finish was Earnhardt’s ninth on the year; a series best.

“I didn’t have any answers for why we were struggling yesterday,” Earnhardt said. “Steve and the engineers got in the hauler and talked all night long, and all day today and put a great car underneath us. And the pit crew did an amazing job tonight. Those guys were gaining spots for me every stop.”

With his driver mired in traffic in the early going and passing made difficult on the 1.5-mile track, Letarte gambled on fuel mileage and tire strategy to jump Earnhardt up the running order. A break came with 52 laps to go when the caution fell as Earnhardt was making a pit stop. He maintained his position on the lead lap and restarted third.

“This place is a bit of a handful for me,” Earnhardt said. “I don’t think I’ve got it figured out just yet. And I don’t exactly know what I’m looking for and how I need the car to drive.”

“The strategy was good on pit road. Steve’s fuel strategy gained us a lot of track position.”

The only thing Letarte couldn’t help with was the bumpiness of the Kentucky track, which is regarded as the roughest in NASCAR.

The bumps were most pronounced on the front stretch. Earnhardt compared the experience to an amusement park ride on his Twitter feed. And in a back-and-forth with David Ragan of Front Row Motorsports, Earnhardt asked Ragan if he ever though his eyeballs were going to pop out due to the unevenness:

Earnhardt wasn’t alone in having difficulty with Kentucky’s many bumps. His Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jeff Gordon, suggested on Friday that instead of a complete repave, which most drivers oppose, speedway officials repair just certain portions of the track. An attempt was made to reduce the bumps near the start/finish line, but the effect was minimal.

“There’s probably some issues out there that need addressed and others that don’t,” said second-place finisher Kyle Busch. “If you fix start-finish line, just pave the straightaway there where it is the roughest and just calm that down some, I think we’d all be very grateful.”