Paul Menard goes spinning, Junior can’t avoid him
Play: NASCAR Fantasy Live
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. slashed his way to his first grandfather clock trophy at Martinsville Speedway last fall, but on his return trip Sunday, the historic track didn’t smile on its most recent winner.
Earnhardt battled a host of mechanical problems that left him fending for position near the tail of the lead lap in Sunday’s STP 500. His attempts for a rally were stunted, however, when Earnhardt was swept up in the race’s 10th caution period in the 228th of a scheduled 500 laps, piling into a seven-car crash.
“Just a lot of checking up getting into (Turn) 1,” Earnhardt said. “Somebody must’ve gotten turned sideways. They all stopped pretty hard getting in the corner and it happens here. We were in the back of it and couldn’t get slowed down, knocked the radiator out of it. It, just, it happens. You get back in the back there and get in that heavy traffic. It’s good, fun racing, though.”
Earnhardt drove his battered Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet back to the garage area, promptly hopped out and tried to jack up the rear of the car to assist repairs. He returned to the track in the 276th lap, 47 laps down and in a car stripped of its front-end sheet metal, crumpled when he slammed into the rear of Paul Menard‘s No. 27.
The crash, though, was just the capper for a series of trouble that caused the No. 88 team to spend extended time on pit road. Earnhardt reported having a severe vibration in his transmission, shaking so bad that his shifter snapped off. The team’s first makeshift lever also failed shortly thereafter, forcing the team to try its third pseudo-shifter before the crash interrupted Earnhardt’s race.
“My car was really, really good except we had a real, real bad vibration in the drive train that kept breaking the shifters off right on top of the transmission,” Earnhardt said. “It’s vibrating real bad and that shifter’s like a tuning fork and it just snaps it right on top of the transmission, so I can’t even … there’s nothing there to use. We finally put a third shifter on it that was unlike anything else we’ve had in the car. I don’t know whether that would’ve lasted the rest of the day, but the car was great and just bad luck there being in the back.”
The reversal of fortune was abrupt for Earnhardt, who celebrated wildly last fall but will have little to cheer this spring.
“I’ve had a lot of good cars here,” Earnhardt said with a shrug. “You’ve got to be toward the front and out of trouble, man. We weren’t there. We were in the back, and … high risk back there. It bit us today. I’m not going to second-guess what we’re doing, and I feel like our team’s strong. We won’t have any problem coming back.”
The No. 88 driver finished 36th, but he tweeted that he is looking forward to returning to Martinsville in October.
Our cars are fast. Even without a nose. I had a damn good time today. We will have our good days. Just gotta keep showing up fast.
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) March 29, 2015
Statistically that was definitely my most enjoyable 36th place finish. @MartinsvilleSwy is top shelf. Can’t wait to return in the fall.
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) March 29, 2015
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“Just a lot of checking up getting into (Turn) 1,” Earnhardt said. “Somebody must’ve gotten turned sideways. They all stopped pretty hard getting in the corner and it happens here. We were in the back of it and couldn’t get slowed down, knocked the radiator out of it. It, just, it happens. You get back in the back there and get in that heavy traffic. It’s good, fun racing, though.”
Earnhardt drove his battered Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet back to the garage area, promptly hopped out and tried to jack up the rear of the car to assist repairs. He returned to the track in the 276th laps, 47 laps down and in a car stripped of its front-end sheet metal.
The crash, though, was just the capper for a series of trouble that caused the No. 88 team to spend extended time on pit road. Earnhardt reported having a severe vibration in his transmission, shaking so bad that his shifter snapped off. The team’s first makeshift lever also failed shortly thereafter, forcing the team to its third pseudo-shifter before the crash interrupted his race.
“My car was really, really good except we had a real, real bad vibration in the drivetrain that kept breaking the shifters off right on top of the transmission,” Earnhardt said. “It’s vibrating real bad and that shifter’s like a tuning fork and it just snaps it right on top of the transmission, so I can’t even … there’s nothing there to use. We finally put a third shifter on it that was unlike anything else we’ve had in the car. I don’t know whether that would’ve lasted the rest of the day, but the car was great and just bad luck there being in the back.”
The reversal of fortune was abrupt for Earnhardt, who celebrated wildly last fall but will have little to cheer this spring.
“I’ve had a lot of good cars here,” Earnhardt said with a shrug. “You’ve got to be toward the front and out of trouble, man. We weren’t there. We were in the back, and … high risk back there. It bit us today. I’m not going to second-guess what we’re doing, and I feel like our team’s strong. We won’t have any problem coming back.”
“Just a lot of checking up getting into (Turn) 1,” Earnhardt said. “Somebody must’ve gotten turned sideways. They all stopped pretty hard getting in the corner and it happens here. We were in the back of it and couldn’t get slowed down, knocked the radiator out of it. It, just, it happens. You get back in the back there and get in that heavy traffic. It’s good, fun racing, though.”
Earnhardt drove his battered Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet back to the garage area, promptly hopped out and tried to jack up the rear of the car to assist repairs. He returned to the track in the 276th laps, 47 laps down and in a car stripped of its front-end sheet metal.
The crash, though, was just the capper for a series of trouble that caused the No. 88 team to spend extended time on pit road. Earnhardt reported having a severe vibration in his transmission, shaking so bad that his shifter snapped off. The team’s first makeshift lever also failed shortly thereafter, forcing the team to its third pseudo-shifter before the crash interrupted his race.
“My car was really, really good except we had a real, real bad vibration in the drivetrain that kept breaking the shifters off right on top of the transmission,” Earnhardt said. “It’s vibrating real bad and that shifter’s like a tuning fork and it just snaps it right on top of the transmission, so I can’t even … there’s nothing there to use. We finally put a third shifter on it that was unlike anything else we’ve had in the car. I don’t know whether that would’ve lasted the rest of the day, but the car was great and just bad luck there being in the back.”
The reversal of fortune was abrupt for Earnhardt, who celebrated wildly last fall but will have little to cheer this spring.
“I’ve had a lot of good cars here,” Earnhardt said with a shrug. “You’ve got to be toward the front and out of trouble, man. We weren’t there. We were in the back, and … high risk back there. It bit us today. I’m not going to second-guess what we’re doing, and I feel like our team’s strong. We won’t have any problem coming back.”