Earnhardt Jr. to charge ahead with 'nothing-to-lose' attitude, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s championship hopes took a hit during Sunday’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and the Hendrick Motorsports disciplinarian now active into the next two contest of the Contender Annular with a annihilation to lose attitude.
After hitting the bank assorted times, Earnhardt brought the No. 88 Chevrolet home in the 28th spot, four laps down to chase champ Joey Logano. Although he entered the day optimistic about a acceptable run in foreground of the hometown crowd, Earnhardt’s day was instead abounding of ups and mostly downs.
“Some added guys had trouble, and some added guys will accept added trouble,” Earnhardt said on pit alley afterwards Sunday’s race. “We’ve got to breach absolute and we can still accomplish it to the next round. We’ve got two beforehand that we can run real, absolute able-bodied at, if not win contest at. We didn’t put ourselves in a acceptable situation, but we were in the aforementioned baiter endure round.”
Battling harder central the top 10 just 75 laps into the event, Earnhardt collection harder into About-face 1 angry adolescent Chase adversary Carl Edwards for position. As the brace went into the corner, Edwards fabricated acquaintance with the larboard rear of Earnhardt’s car, sending it up the cyberbanking and into the alfresco application wall.
“Carl got a abundant run on us and collection down into (Turn) 1 and got into the aback of us a little bit,” he said. “I don’t apperceive if I cut him off or what. He collection in there appealing harder and collection over the larboard rear division console of the car and we got in the fence.”
With no absorption aerial for the incident, Earnhardt did his best to accumulate the car out of cartage and out of trouble. However, on Lap 75 Earnhardt already afresh bent the alfresco bank in About-face 1. Earnhardt kept the car forth the bank and the fourth absorption of the day flew.
Quiet on the radio, Earnhardt brought the car to the absorption of his aggregation led by aggregation arch Greg Ives. They went to plan alteration tires and affairs out the fender damage. If the chase restarted, Earnhardt was 37th, one lap down to the leaders.
Earnhardt took the wave-around to get one of his laps back, but if the chase went aback to blooming with 145 laps to go, he hit the bank afresh afterwards active through oil and was affected to appear aback to pit alley beneath green.
Catching a bit of a breach if the absorption flew just laps later, Earnhardt culd not yield advantage if he said he hit the bank harder than any time throughout the day. As a result, Earnhardt fell to 35th on the leaderboard, three laps down to the leaders if the chase restarted on Lap 200.
Finishing the day 28th, Earnhardt fell to 11th in the Chase standings, 19 credibility abaft the blow in eight.
After the race, Earnhardt -- like abounding drivers -- bidding annoyance about NASCAR not charwoman the oil forth the top band backward in the race.
“We all hit the wall. I hit the wall, again the 2 (Brad Keselowski) hit the wall, again we ran addition lap, I alveolate and a agglomeration of added guys hit the wall. There was oil down there. It wasn’t Speedy Dry,” Earnhardt said emphatically. “I’ve raced this s--t for 20 years, I apperceive what oil and Speedy Dry is. We hit fluid, flew in the bank freaking hard, that’s not Speedy Dry. There was oil up there.”
Last season, Earnhardt’s appellation hopes came to an end in the Contender Annular if he hit the bank arch at Kansas Speedway, finishing 39th. Earnhardt followed that up with a 20th-place accomplishment at Charlotte and a 31st at Talladega Superspeedway, declining to accomplish the cut for the Elimination Round.
Heading into this weekend’s Bank of America 500, Earnhardt and Ives acquainted assured about their affairs at the three Contender Annular tracks. Given their struggles aboriginal Sunday at Charlotte, the No. 88 aggregation will accept to appearance up in a big way at Kansas and Talladega in the next two weeks to accumulate their appellation hopes alive.
Now adverse an acclivous action to beforehand to the Elimination Annular of the Chase, Earnhardt feels he has annihilation to lose over the next two races.
“We can be aggressive, go to Kansas and run hard. If we’re in the top 10 (in points) or just central the bubble, you don’t run the top ancillary so hard, so aggressive. You ability not run the accomplished chase as aggressive. In this chase today, if I didn’t accept the Chase to anguish about, I apparently would’ve went to the top ancillary a lot beforehand with a lot added assailment and collection the s--t out of the car. But you don’t wish to hit the bank and accomplish a mistake, so you don’t do it. You drive careful.
“At Kansas you can run the top and I like active the top there and I anticipate we can be fast there,” he said. “Now I don’t accept to anguish about skinning the ancillary off it and animadversion us out of the Chase. We’re out of it. It’s our about-face to barb aback in, and we’ll try.”Earnhardt was not the alone Hendrick Motorsports car to attempt in the aperture segments of the race. Jeff Gordon struggled with the administration of the No. 24 Chevrolet active just central the top 20. Jimmie Johnson had a able car throughout abundant of the race, but had an engine affair and fell out of the chase afterwards 257 laps, finishing 39th.
And Kasey Kahne had the affliction airing of the four-car organization. Kahne hit the bank on two abstracted occasions, assuredly bringing out the absorption on Lap 61. With abundant appropriate ancillary damage, Kahne pulled his car abaft the bank and was clearly listed out of the chase just afore the 100-lap mark.