Dale Earnhardt Jr. got caught up on the wrong side of Jimmie Johnson. Credit: Doug Benc/Getty Images

Rare restrictor-plate mistake costs Junior

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. is considered by many one of the best restrictor-plate drivers, if not the best, in the Nextel Cup Series because of his ability to handle the draft.

On Sunday, he made a mistake that likely cost him his second Daytona 500 victory in three years.

Credit: Autostock

Daytona 500 Results Pos. Driver Make 1. J. Johnson Chevrolet 2. C. Mears Dodge 3. R. Newman Dodge 4. E. Sadler Ford 5. T. Stewart Chevrolet Complete results, click here Victory LaneJimmie Johnson celebrates a Daytona 500 victory Top finishersNewman, Kenseth, Stewart, and Junior talk about their day Rough racingStewart slides into Kenseth and is sent to the back of the field Multi-car wreckJeff Green spins in Turn 3 and collects several others Gordon and Stewart brush wallGordon and Stewart make contact and brush the wall Early cautionRacing is clean until Truex Jr. finds the wall Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

The mistake came with less than 20 laps remaining Earnhardt allowed himself to get hung out on the high side and fall out of the draft.

Earnhardt slipped from a top-10 spot to 21st, which he nearly overcame before settling for eighth place.

He immediately apologized to his crew over his car radio for the mistake after leading a race-high 32 laps.

Crew chief Tony Eury Jr. said no apology was needed.

"He didn't make any mistakes,'' he said. "He got in the wrong line one time, that's all. To get from 21st to almost the front, he was putting on quite a show out there.''

Richie Gilmore, the director of motorsports at Dale Earnhardt Inc., agreed.

"To come from where he did, that shows how talented he is,'' he said. "He made some great moves.''

Earnhardt was fifth on the green-white-checkered restart, and appeared ready to make one last run. But he pulled out of draft on the low side again and fell back to eighth when nobody pulled out with him.

"I knew nobody would go with me on the outside, but it was the only chance we had to win, so I decided to go for it,'' Earnhardt said. "I'm not here to run fifth or eighth. I can live with myself knowing I at least tried to win rather than stay in line.''

Earnhardt fought a push most of the day, but he never fell far from the lead until his "mistake.'' His average position was fifth.

"The motor is like an old man,'' Earnhardt said over his car radio late. "It will wake up and run for a while, then fall back asleep.''

Eury said power was an issue that DEI normally doesn't have on restrictor-plate tracks.

"We've got to go back to the shop and get in the wind tunnel and find out what the problem is before we go to Talladega,'' he said, referring to the next restrictor-plate race. "We'll do that and be all right.''

NASCAR's new statistics package showed Earnhardt had a better day than most. He finished with a driver rating of 103.5, third only to winner Jimmie Johnson (118.4) and third-place finisher Ryan Newman (114.2).

His problem came late in runs, where he ranked 25th in speed during the final 25 percent of the run.

Everything else was fine.

"Just awesome pit stops,'' Earnhardt said. "We had a great race car. I don't know what happened on the front straightaway [of the last lap]. We passed a bunch of cars while they were beating on each other.

"They rule me eighth, so I'll take it and go to California.''