Junior has enough fuel at MIS to end winless streak

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. put the longest drought of his NASCAR Sprint Cup career behind him Sunday, winning the LifeLock 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

Earnhardt had gone through 76 races since his previous win on May 6, 2006, at Richmond. It also was his first victory with Hendrick Motorsports, which he joined this season.

LifeLock 400

Official Results

Pos.	Driver	Make
1.	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet
2.	Kasey Kahne	Dodge
3.	Matt Kenseth	Ford
4.	Brian Vickers	Toyota
5.	Tony Stewart	Toyota
6.	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet
7.	Carl Edwards	Ford
8.	David Ragan	Ford
9.	Elliott Sadler	Dodge
10.	Jamie McMurray	Ford

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"I missed the joy, and I missed winning," Earnhardt said. "My fans are happy and I'm happy for them. The other half are going to tear this apart on how we won this race, but I got the trophy and I got the points and I got to see my team and my family tonight happy as they have been in a long time. This win is pretty special to me."

Earnhardt won the race on fuel mileage. His last pit stop of the scheduled 200-lap race was on Lap 148. A caution on Lap 199 forced a green-white-checkered finish that pushed the race on the 2-mile oval to 203 laps.

"We came in for the last stop, we were going to be six laps short and I saved six laps of gas," Earnhardt said. "Normally, we would not trade a top-five for a possible win because normally half the time it doesn't work out, but we did the right thing [Sunday]."

Starting with Lap 157, the race went into an extended green-flag run and it forced a succession of leaders -- Jimmie Johnson, Brian Vickers, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards and David Ragan -- to pit under green.

On Lap 194, Earnhardt cycled into the lead. He was running his Chevrolet at quarter-throttle down the straights. Jamie McMurray, running second, was doing the same thing, and he led the next lap. Then, Earnhardt took the lead for good.

"Are we saving fuel, or are we racing?" Earnhardt asked crew chief Tony Eury Jr. on the radio.

Sam Hornish Jr. spun out in Turn 4 to bring out the caution on Lap 199.

"When the caution came out, I was dejected," Earnhardt said. "But, it is what it is. We've got to try."

McMurray pitted under the caution, putting Kasey Kahne in second for the restart.

Earnhardt led to the white flag. He'd just taken it when a crash behind him on the front straight brought out the caution and ended the race. All Earnhardt had to do was get back around to the checkered flag.

"I turned it [engine] off when the caution came out, but I cranked it up around [Turns] 3 and 4, and it ran fine all the way to the flag," Earnhardt said. "It ran out just as I turned and was coming back [to his pit box]. It had just enough to win the race and win under green, I believe. We had saved just enough."

Kahne finished second and Kenseth, Vickers and Tony Stewart rounded out the top five.

Points leader Kyle Busch finished 13th, and his lead is 32 points over second-place Jeff Burton and 84 over Earnhardt.

Earnhardt said he never lost confidence in himself or his No. 88 team.

"I never wondered, man, will I ever win again," he said. "I'll have good opportunities driving good racecars for hopefully a good time and more opportunities to win. The winless streak didn't frustrate me as much as people would think. I was so happy to be where I am and satisfied with how we've run to this point that I wasn't that frustrated about not winning. I felt really fortunate to have what I had."