Dale Earnhardt Jr. chances of reaching Chase is now over. His run at the Talladega Superspeedway was not enough to secure him a slot in the next round of competition.
Earnhardt landed on the 31st spot when he got caught up in a string of car accidents during the first of two green-white-checkered attempts. Greg Biffle sent Earnhardt's car spinning into the wall.
Earnhardt commented on the accident saying "I don't know if I came down on him or what, I thought I was holding my line, but we were all kind of tight back there."
Earnhardt, Johnson and Brad Keselowski were hoping to win in Talladega but it was only Keselowski who succeeded.
He said "We worked real hard all day long trying to run up front. I knew we needed to be up front all day long. We got shuffled to the back. I made a move trying to get up front and it didn't work out. So, we lost a lot of track position and never got it back."
He adds "You need to be up front. You need to be in the top four the last few restarts. Those are the guys that have a shot at it. You know you're not going to pass 10 or 12 cars there in six or seven laps. We tried. It just didn't work out."
Earnhardt reach the top on Lap 75 and stayed on the point for 29 laps, but lost the lead when he made the pit stop. However he was able to lead briefly for two more laps shortly afterward.
Earnhardt lamented "We worked hard to try to get back into the top five or so, and it just didn't work out. The car did get loose on one run. We made a good adjustment and it was driving good at the end."
According to Crew chief Steve Letarte, the racers situation was a matter of being in the wrong place and at the wrong time. He said "We just never could get a foothold; never could mount a charge back to the front. That's just how it is. Sometimes you get cycled out at the wrong time and that was definitely not the right time to get cycled out."
