Promising day for Dale Earnhardt Jr. ends against the NHMS wall
LOUDON, N.H. - Dale Earnhardt Jr. saw a promising run go south in a hurry on Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, finishing 35th on the heels of a crash with 17 laps left in the Sylvania 300 NASCAR Sprint Cup race.
Earnhardt Jr. was running fourth when his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was tagged by Michael Waltrip Racing's David Reutimann in Turn 3, sending the No. 88 car out of control and into the wall.
Earnhardt Jr. later blamed Reutimann for the incident, which occurred on the first lap after a restart.
"My car is tore up and he ain't got enough talent to run in the top five I guess," Earnhardt Jr. said. "He run down into the side of me and spun me out late in the race. I mean we're all running real hard but you've got to know how much race car you've got and you've got to know how much talent you've got before you go down in the corner. He never knows. It's disappointing. We had a good car."
In fact, Earnhardt Jr. said he believed his car was good enough to finish in the top three before the wreck. NASCAR's most popular driver had been hovering around the top five for most of the race after moving forward from his 23rd-place starting position.
"I know that [Reutimann] can't hold his line and I should have known that, but I gotta run hard and try to win," said Earnhardt Jr., who is still seeking his first victory of the season. "Some people you just can't race side-by-side with. We're disappointed. ... We had a real good car – a fabulous car all day long.
"[It was] probably one of the best cars here. [We were] real hard all day just trying to run the best we can. David just run out of talent there."
Sunday's misfortune was just the latest in a season of disappointments for Earnhardt Jr., who missed NASCAR's Chase For The Sprint Cup and remained 21st in the standings with his New Hampshire finish.
"Well we're pretty ticked off about how we've been running," he said. "This definitely makes us more upset. We've been driving in the middle of the mess all day long and rooting on being and having fun.
"We didn't slap drive down in the corner and knock anybody out but it happens to you sometimes. You've just got to know who you can race and who you can't."
