Notes: Strong runs don't soothe thoughts on COT

DOVER, Del. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. was seemingly giddy to finish a race Sunday without blowing an engine.

After a third-place finish in Sundays' Dodge Dealers 400, the No. 8 driver held his ball cap in the air and saluted the media gallery as he exited Sunday's post-race news conference.

"We had a lot of luck go our way and we also worked really hard to get to where we got. I am real proud of my team, they gave me a great opportunity [Sunday] to run great and we ran up front early in the race and were able to stay there most of the day," Earnhardt said. "We had some down parts in the race and got a lap down but were able to get that back."

Lap-by-Lap

Follow the passes, lead changes and crashes in Carl Edwards' wreck-filled win at Dover.

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The "down parts" may have something to do with Earnhardt's less-than-glowing review of the Car of Tomorrow.

After multiple races and development, drivers are still taking issue with the new chassis meant to make racing safer and competition closer.

"The COT and the concrete surface here made it difficult to race," Earnhardt said. "Cars don't have any downforce on the front. It's either hitting the ground or too high; the car is really tight or really lose. There's no middle ground."

Chase points leader Jeff Gordon finished 11th and said his car wouldn't do anything he wanted it to do; the driver of the No. 24 battled an ill-handling racecar all day.

When asked to give the COT a letter grade at this stage of the game, after 13 COT races, Gordon simply said, "no." But he agreed with Earnhardt's comments.

"There are guys out there making this car work ... I need to hold back what I really want to say," Gordon said. "I just don't see how we're going to get it done under the current conditions of this car and put on the kind of races that we need to put on. And we haven't even gotten to the 1.5 miles [tracks] yet."

Crewman injured by loose tire
Art Harris, gas man for Michael Waltrip's No. 55 crew, was loaded on a stretcher and taken by ambulance to a local hospital for evaluation after the crew member was hit in the head by a bouncing tire during pit stops on Lap 76 (watch video).

In order to accommodate the ambulance, NASCAR threw a competition caution on Lap 147 so the emergency vehicle could cross the track and leave the racetrack. Dover has no tunnels under the track from the infield.

The injury occurred when Waltrip's car left its pit stall. The car of David Ragan hit a loose tire, sending it bouncing into Harris. Initially, he was taken to the infield care center, where a NASCAR official reported "he was awake and alert."

Later in the race, NASCAR reported the gas man was treated and released from the local hospital.

A native of Asheboro, N.C., Harris is a suspension specialist for the team and has worked in racing for 14 years.

Injured crew members are not uncommon on the chaotic pit roads of NASCAR.

At the most recent race in California, T.J. Ford, jack man for the No. 15 of Paul Menard, was clipped by the No. 40 car of David Stremme and had to be replaced by another crewmen.

Josh Yost, the jack man for driver Jeff Burton, underwent surgery on his left ankle following a pit-road incident during this season's Daytona 500. (Continued)