Earnhardt Jr. Pleased with Performance but not Second Place
DOVER, Del. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. had another solid weekend but solid just isn’t cutting it for him anymore.
He finished second to teammate Jimmie Johnson, who led a race high 243 of 400 laps. It was a record win for Johnson as Earnhardt Jr. tried to overtake him with four tires coming off the race’s final pit stop and restart.
“I’ll be honest with you, it sucks to lose regardless of who wins. It’s probably harder to run second than it is fifth or tenth. When you have a car like we had today, you don’t get good cars every week, you like to capitalize,” he said. “It doesn’t bother me that it was Jimmie. I know Jimmie is going to be good here. Plus he’s my teammate. I want to see him do well. When he does well, it indirectly affects us and benefits us.
“I wasn’t hoping he was going to blow a tire or anything there at the end, I was just trying to catch him. If I could get to him, I thought I would be able to get by him. We just couldn’t do it.”
Starting on the pole for the second time this season, the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet was one of the quickest all weekend. It led the first 25 laps of the race before Earnhardt Jr. before briefly swapping the lead with point leader Matt Kenseth. Still searching for his first win of 2013, Earnhardt Jr. was in firm control until green flag pit stops began.
He missed the entrance to pit road, knowing he couldn’t pit since he wasn’t able to get all four tires inside the commitment zone, and had to wait an extra lap to come down for service. Later in the race he came down much slower than the rest of the leaders, which again cost him the lead.
“If you really look at the race as a whole, they did cost us a little bit, at least the mistake I made missing pit road completely,” he noted about his pit road miscues. “We had the lead, gave up the lead. Jimmie had the lead and was able to take advantage of that clean air when it counted. If I had not given up that track position, had a smart enough race to keep the lead when it counted right at the end, we might have won the race. It would have been hard to get by us, just like it was hard to get by Jimmie.”
Coming in slow wasn’t as big a factor Earnhardt Jr. felt, as missing pit road. He came on pit road just as hard as he had been all day but Mark Martin in front of him held him up when he entered much slower than the 88.
It capped two weeks of “awesome” cars for Earnhardt Jr., who had a chance to win both races. Sunday after leading 77 laps, he thought for sure four tires against Johnson’s two would be the winning strategy.
“I feel like in the last couple of weeks, we’ve been able to really show what our team’s capable of. We’ve been really quick on the sheet every day, fast in practice,” he said as he moved to 10th in points but still remains over a full race behind the leaders. “The changes we’re making, everything seems to be working right, going in the direction you want. I feel like when we get it right, we can compete and we can win.
“We came really close today. I don’t feel like today was a highlight for us. I think this is how it’s supposed to be every week. I know that competition’s difficult and tough, Jimmie being one of the best driver’s the sport has ever seen. Running at one of his better racetracks, it was going to be a challenge. But I felt like we had enough car and tires for sure to beat him.”
Johnson Earns Record Breaking Win at Dover
DOVER, Del. – Jimmie Johnson has already written a few pages in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history book and Sunday afternoon at Dover in the AAA 400 he added one more.
Johnson won for the eighth time at the Monster Mile to take first place on the all-time win’s list, breaking a tie with Bobby Allison and Richard Petty. It was Johnson’s fifth win of the season, his first since Daytona in July, and 65th of his career. He held off a hard charging and hungry teammate in Dale Earnhardt Jr.
“Two [tires] worked good for us in practice. And believe me; I wanted to see four tires line up in the fourth or fifth row. When they lined up right behind me, I thought I was going to have my hands full,” Johnson said about the series of events. “And I really did. Junior drove a whale of a race and track position really gave me the advantage I needed to hold him off.”
Earnhardt Jr. started the day on the pole and led 77 laps but didn’t have enough for Johnson at the end. Even after lining up first among those off pit road with four tires on the final pit stop. Johnson led a race high 243 of 400 laps to clinch the record.
“It’s incredible. To do anything that Bobby or Richard has done is quite an accomplishment,” Johnson said. “We’ve a few sneak away from us here, too, over the years. I’m just so happy to get that done and be the sole leader of race wins here. It’s a very special day.”
The win also moved Johnson to second in points, only eight markers behind Matt Kenseth who finished seventh. Kenseth led early as he looked for his third straight win to open the Chase but lost the handling of his car late. The same affected his teammate, Kyle Busch, who finished fifth and slipped to third in points.
There were only four cautions on the day – three for debris and one for fluid from Brad Keselowski’s car – which allowed for long green flag runs and green flag pit stops. Earnhardt Jr. missed pit road during one and came in slow on another, costing him plenty of time on track both occasions. He overcame those problems for second place but found no solace in it afterwards.
“I’ll be honest with you, it sucks to lose regardless of who wins. It’s probably harder to run second than it is fifth or tenth,” he said afterwards. “When you have a car like we had today, you don’t get good cars every week, you like to capitalize.”
Joey Logano finished third and Jeff Gordon fourth to move to fifth in points and tied with Kevin Harvick.
The NSCS heads to Kansas next weekend where Kenseth won earlier this season. Seven races remain in the NSCS season.
Johnson re-writes history at Dover
The AAA 400 is over at Dover International Speedway. After a beautiful day of racing in the first state Jimmie Johnson was able to hold on Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Junior for the win. Johnson has put his name in NASCAR record books as he becomes the all-time wins leader at the tough “Monster Mile”.
After a drama building sequence when we didn’t think the leaders were good on fuel a caution flew for debris. The caution allowed the few left on the lead lap to hit pit road. Dale Junior’s team elected to take four tires rather then two like Jimmie Johnson. Joey Logano and Jeff Gordon.
The final restart featured a good ole’ 25 lap shootout. The fan favorite Dale Jr. restarted 4th and quickly shot by Jeff Gordon and Logano to take the 2nd position. Dale then faced Jimmie Johnson, one on one. Dale closed to the rear of the No. 48 Chevrolet, but a bad move when he tried to use the high side cost him the race as he fell back about half a second and never recovered.
Jimmie Johnson took the win while leading the most laps, Dale Junior was very disappointed after the race as he felt he had a chance to win.
“Junior ran a whale of a race,” Johnson said. “The track position gave me the advantage to hold him off. … It’s awfully timely in the scheme of things.”
“That’s real disappointing there, but Jimmie is just that fast,” a disappointed Earnhardt said afterward. “He’s really good at this place. I just couldn’t even get to him.”
Joey Logano was the highest finishing Ford as he captured the 3rd position. Kyle Busch finished a solid 5th after having a ill handling race car. Matt Kenseth rides out of Dove as the points leader with a all around fine day after finishing 7th.
