Patience leads to top-five finish for Dale Jr.

Chevy Monte Carlo 400 Results | Winston Cup Standings

	A good car -- and a little patience -- gave Dale Earnhardt Jr. a fourth-place finish Saturday at Richmond. Credit: Autostock

RICHMOND, Va. -- On Friday, Dale Earnhardt Jr. dominated the Busch Series race at Richmond, taking a victory in the debut of his co-owned No. 8 Chevrolet. One night later, he had to work a lot harder to finish fourth in the Chevrolet Monte Carlo 400.

After starting 24th, Earnhardt Jr. was in the top 10 by the 100-lap mark. For the next 200 laps, he wasn't in the top 20 and was mired in 24th for a while after a green-flag pit stop.

His march back to the front was made even more difficult by the race's 10 cautions. Still, as the checkered flag neared, Junior was battling with the top-five cars to stay in contention.

Once he got his lap back, he utilized patience -- yes, patience -- to get his seventh top-five and 10th top-10 finish of the year. Patience which paid off when several of the top-10 runners experienced problems.

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"Well, that was pretty exciting," Earnhardt Jr. said of the race. "It took a lot of patience to sit there and wait to get your lap back.

"We had a good enough car at the end that we kind of just picked them off one at a time. We were real fortunate that a lot of guys ran out of gas. We had great gas mileage thanks to Richie Gilmore (engine builder) for his motors.

For his effort and patience, Earnhardt Jr. moved up one spot to 14th in points. That also came at the expense of his DEI teammate Michael Waltrip.

Waltrip was leading the race at lap 217 when an accident in Turn 3 knocked him out of the race in 36th place. He now trails Earnhardt Jr. by 59 points.

Earnhardt Jr. said Saturday's up-and-down evening ended well.

"It was a good car," Earnhardt Jr. said. "Almost good as last night (Friday) there at the end."