Another frustrating day ends in 20th-place finish for Hendrick Motorsports' Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Hendrick Motorsports' Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 20th in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
// Tim Parks, NASCAR Scene
FORT WORTH, Texas – Even as his Hendrick Motorsports teammates finished first, second and sixth, Dale Earnhardt Jr. discovered again that nothing comes easy for him so far in the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.
Earnhardt Jr. led once for six laps and used tire strategy to run in the top 10 in the latter stages of Sunday’s Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. But like many races this season, mistakes were made that cost Earnhardt Jr. a top finish.
First, there was another mistake on pit road, and then Earnhardt Jr. admitted it was his fault when he slid into the Turn 1 wall with 45 laps remaining. After pitting, Earnhardt Jr. dropped from seventh to 22nd, one lap down, and he ended up 20th.
The mistake on pit road “wasn’t nothing,” Earnhardt Jr. said. A lugnut wasn’t secured on a pit stop, and Earnhardt Jr. had to come back to pit road to replace it. But he missed his pit stall and had to make another stop.
“We were already last in line on the lead lap,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “We came down pit road, and all the lapped [cars] were in their stalls, and I just didn’t want to get T-boned by one of those guys coming out. I didn’t get it in the stall, so we just went around and came back in.”
Later, Earnhardt Jr. slipped in Turn 1 and smacked the wall.
“I was running real, real hard all day, trying to run hard and trying to run well,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “Just got into the wall down there in the middle of [turns] 1 and 2. The car jumped sideways. … My mistake.”
Earnhardt Jr. remained 16th in the Cup standings, with his third finish of 20th or worse in the first seven races. Part of the problem, he said, has been poor qualifying efforts. Earnhardt Jr. hasn't started better than 14th all season and began the Texas race in 20th.
“We were really fast,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “We just started way back there and were running back there all day. If you can’t pass, you’ve got to start where you’ve got to finish. You’ve got to start up front if you want to finish there.”
Earnhardt Jr. and his team will work more on qualifying in the future, he said, much like teammates Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin.
“It’s so challenging and so competitive and so hard to pass – especially at a place like this – that starting up front really helps,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “The cars drive a lot better when they’re up in the clean air.”
