Dale Jr. cuts tire, smashes wall at Phoenix

"Not a lot of guys are having tire problems," Earnhardt Jr. said after exiting the infield care center. "(Sam) Hornish had one similar to us. You just can't abuse it. We were really, really loose and just abused the tire. You want to get angry but you've got to get the balance of the car better.

"A lot of guys are running without any problem. We were super, super loose; it just wore the tire out."

The incident occurred on Lap 181 of the 312-lap race. According to Goodyear officials, the right-rear tire problem was the result of a melted bead and was the same issue suffered by Hornish, who had a tire go down earlier in the race.

Earnhardt opened the season with top-five finishes at Daytona, Atlanta and Las Vegas and entered Sunday's race second in the points standings. Damage to the No. 88 Chevrolet was too extensive to try and repair and get the driver back out before the conclusion of the race.

Earnhardt said crew chief Greg Ives had told him the team had seen no previous tire issues on previous stops Sunday.

"We were progressively getting worse and worse on entry," Earnhardt said. "I imagine we put that set through hell compared to the other ones.

"I like the tire a lot and I applaud Goodyear for trying to soften it up because the other tire we had here wasn't a lot of fun. This one is pretty good to race with, the car's still real, real hard to pass with. Shifting is a little annoying … it's a little bit of a pain in the ass to shift.

"But the tire's OK. We were too loose. We’ve got to get the balance better.”

Earnhardt was credited with a 43rd-place finish.

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