Dale Earnhardt Jr. narrowly avoids Chase for the Sprint Cup elimination

He may have required a tiebreaker to do so, but Dale Earnhardt Jr. advanced to the second round of NASCAR’s playoffs on the strength of a third-place finish Sunday at Dover International Speedway.

Earnhardt and Jamie McMurray, who finished fourth in the AAA 400, tied in points for the final transfer position in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, but because Earnhardt recorded the best finish in Round 1 (third) he moved on while McMurray was eliminated.

McMurray was ahead of Earnhardt with 24 laps remaining, but Earnhardt completed a bold outside pass to get around McMurray and Matt Kenseth following the race’s final restart. Earnhardt then put some distance between himself and McMurray to secure the position.

“I just drove it in there and it stuck,” Earnhardt said of the deciding pass. “I hate some guys don’t get to make it and some guys do, but I’m glad we are able to move on to the next round.”

McMurray along with Jimmie Johnson, Paul Menard and Clint Bowyer were the four eliminations Sunday. The Chase field consists of 16 drivers with the lowest four in points without a win cut every three weeks.

When the race concluded, McMurray and Earnhardt embraced on pit road. McMurray was making his first Chase appearance and earned his best finish since a seventh in June at Michigan.

“It was a great move that Dale Jr. made on the outside,” McMurray said. “I was waving at Matt hoping that he would let me in, and I really didn’t feel like the outside was the place to be and (Earnhardt) just did a really good job and got a great run on me.

“I thought we were better than him the run before. I thought I would be able to get back by him. We were driving so hard those last few laps and it’s just hard to make up any ground.”

Earnhardt nearly wasn’t in position to pass McMurray due to a loose wheel that had him poised to come to pit road under the green flag. But when Brett Moffitt crashed in Turn 2, the fortuitous caution allowed Earnhardt to stop without losing a lap.

Loose wheels, often caused by lug nuts not fastened securely, is an issue that’s hampered Earnhardt’s No. 88 team throughout the season.

“The left-rear [tire] was falling off,” Earnhardt said. “I was a couple laps from coming in. It was shaking real bad in the corner and I knew it was a matter of time before it was coming off.

“It wasn’t going to make 50 laps. We had 50 to go at that point, and I wasn’t going to bash my head against a concrete wall somewhere for a damned loose wheel, so we just come in sooner than later.”