Earnhardt Jr. reflects on Chase elimination

"I don't know if I came down on him or what," Earnhardt said of the contact with the Roush Fenway Racing driver. "I thought I was holding my line, but we were all kind of tight back there.”

Earnhardt, Johnson and Brad Keselowski, bringing up the rear of the Chase points heading into the race, needed a win to advance to the next round. Keselowski accomplished the feat, on one of the most treacherous tracks on the schedule.

Earnhardt's No. 88 Chevrolet was out front twice for 31 laps, and when he wasn't leading he was often dicing up front among those who were. But getting shuffled back in the field during the final stage of the race left him in a precarious position.

"We worked real hard all day long trying to run up front," Earnhardt said. "I knew we needed to be up front all day long. We got shuffled to the back. I made a move trying to get up front and it didn't work out. So, we lost a lot of track position and never got it back.

"You need to be up front. You need to be in the top four the last few restarts. Those are the guys that have a shot at it. You know you're not going to pass 10 or 12 cars there in six or seven laps. We tried. It just didn't work out."

In a race that saw 38 lead changes among 19 drivers, Earnhardt broke out on top on Lap 75 and stayed on the point for 29 laps. He lost the lead during a round of pit stops, then led briefly for two more laps shortly afterward.

He was able to stay around the top 10 for much of the second half of the race, until only some 30 or so laps remained.

Even then, given the unpredictable nature of racing on the 2.66-mile track, hope remained.

"We worked hard to try to get back into the top five or so, and it just didn't work out," he said. "The car did get loose on one run. We made a good adjustment and it was driving good at the end."

Crew chief Steve Letarte said it was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"We just never could get a foothold; never could mount a charge back to the front," he said. "That's just how it is. Sometimes you get cycled out at the wrong time and that was definitely not the right time to get cycled out."

While the car certainly seemed capable of winning, Letarte said the nature of racing here tempers expectations.

"I'm not going to say it doesn't matter," he said. "I don't want to discount the hard work our company puts in the engines and these (crew) guys put into the car, but … a great car gives you very little guarantee."

A winner of three races prior to the start of the Chase, Earnhardt came to Talladega on the heels of disappointing finishes at Kansas and Charlotte that put his team in a must-win scenario.

That he was unable to advance was disappointing, but not crushing.

"There have probably been worse things," he said. "I'm not retiring or anything, so we'll try next year.

"We've had a good season and have a lot to be looking forward to. We're definitely not going to get too torn up about (it); we didn't run well."

MORE: