DEI mates put distractions behind them at Michigan

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- The divorce papers have been filed and another marriage has already been arranged, but for now the Junior partnership at Dale Earnhardt Inc. remains intact and apparently stronger than ever.

How else can Sunday's dynamic dual top-five finish for the DEI duo in the Citizens Bank 400 at Michigan International Speedway be explained?

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Martin Truex Jr. and Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished second and fifth, respectively, overcoming a week of distractions fueled by Earnhardt's announcement last Wednesday that beginning next season he will drive for Hendrick Motorsports. He had announced five weeks earlier that he would be leaving DEI when his contract expires at the end of this season.

Truex was perhaps the class of the field at points in Sunday's race, particularly early. He led five different times for a total of 54 laps, second only to race winner Carl Edwards. He led most of them early -- but came back to lead six laps late after an accident on Lap 76 of the 200-lap event at the 2-mile oval almost ruined his day completely.

"Well, we had an up-and-down sort of day obviously," Truex said. "We had an awesome racecar at the start of the race and we got out there and led a bunch. The car was really, really fast and was handling really great."

Then came the mishap on Lap 76. The lapped cars of Jeff Green and Ryan Newman got together in front of him, sending Newman spinning off the track and causing Truex, who was coming up behind them, to eventually spin as well (watch video).

But Truex amazingly appeared to avoid hitting anybody or anything and came out of it with very little damage to his No. 1 Chevrolet.

"I saw the No. 12 or somebody start to turn sideways up ahead and I started to slow down before the guys in front of me even did," Truex said. "I got hit from behind, so that's when I started spinning. I was going straight backwards at one point and I was looking out the windshield and saw cars coming toward me.

"Then I was almost stopped, and it started to spin around to go in the correct direction. I put it in gear and steered out of it and somehow it straightened out and I took off. I wasn't in total control the whole way -- just at the very tail end of it." (Continued)