Dale Earnhardt Jr. pulls off a 6th at the Brickyard
Dale Earnhardt Jr. came into the race at the Brickyard outside of the Top 10 with 6 races to go and he needed a big boost after two straight 43rd place finishes. Before those two races he was sitting 3rd in points and comfortably in the Top 5, but disaster struct and in 2 short races he fell 8 spots down to 11th in points.
Things weren’t looking very good for Dale Jr. all race, the team just couldn’t get handling of the car right and he was mired back between 22nd and 37th most of the race. It was looking really bad for Dale Jr. and I am sure frustration was setting in for crew chief Tony Uury Jr. and and Dale Jr.
The laps were counting down and it was going to take a miracle for Dale Jr. to salvage a good finish. The miracle came in the form of a late caution flag and just about all of the lead lap cars came in for fresh tires and Tony Eury Jr. made the call of the season, he told Dale Jr. to stay out. They were going to roll the dice and hope for the best. A few other teams made the same call including Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman and they restarted the race with less than 20 laps to go.
I was actually just hoping that Dale Earnhardt Jr. would be able to hold on and finish in the Top 10. As I said in the beginning of this entry Jimmie Johnson was able to over take Dale Jr with 10 laps to go. Fortunately for Dale Jr. the story didn’t end there and he only passed by four other cars and he finished in 6th place.
With the 6th place finish he was able get back into the Top 10 (10th place) just behind Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon. Jeff Gordon reached deep into his bag of tricks (not meant to be derrogatory) and he recovered from a near disasterous start to finish 16th. Gordon fell 3 or 4 laps down due to a mechanical failure (broken bolt on the front sway bar) and with a couple of quick cautions he was able to get the laps back, but he still found himself one lap down for a very long stretch and I am sure he had to be wondering when his luck was going to change.
He finally got the break he needed and got back onto the lead lap and he clawed back and finished in the Top 20 (16th) and was able move up one spot in the points to 8th position just barely in front of the resurgant Tony Stewart.
Top 10 Finishers
1. # 48 Jimmie Johnson
2. # 17 Matt Kenseth
3. # 29 Kevin Harvick
4. # 07 Clint Bowyer
5. # 6 Mark Martin
6. # 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
7. # 5 Kyle Busch
8. # 20 Tony Stewart
9. # 99 Carl Edwards
10. #11 Denny Hamlin
