Dirty Mo Radio: Discusses key pit-road speeding penalty
Carrying the very unofficial title of NASCAR’s official grillmaster, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has plenty of experience getting the timing right in his frequent barbecues. Perhaps that’s why overcooking his entry onto pit road last weekend at Dover International Speedway left such a sour taste.
A crucial pit-road speeding penalty just past the halfway point proved to be an insurmountable obstacle to Earnhardt’s chances in the FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks. But Earnhardt, in his weekly analysis on the “Dale Jr. Download” podcast on Dirty Mo Radio, said that he was pleased with the speed in his Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet as he twice rallied from deep in the field to a 14th-place finish.
“I still had fun driving the car. I hate I fouled up there and screwed up coming onto pit road and disappointed the guys,” Earnhardt said. “We just worked so hard to get all that ground back and get back on the lead lap, and I sort of screwed it all up. So that’s difficult to deal with but you’ve got to put it behind you to be able to move on to the next event, and we’re going to some tracks where I think we can do really well and I’m looking forward to it.”
Earnhardt started from the rear of the 43-car field, dropping back during pace laps after the crew was forced to make repairs to the No. 88’s rear gearing during Saturday’s final practice. Earnhardt lost a lap early, but regained it with some savvy pit strategy from crew chief Greg Ives and the fortunate timing of the race’s second caution period. That lead-lap advantage, however, went away with a penalty during the next round of green-flag pit stops.
Earnhardt lost two laps in the process, but the net effect wasn’t terribly costly in the scope of the season. The 40-year-old driver has already all but sealed his berth in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs after posting a regular-season win at Talladega Superspeedway last month, allowing him to take more chances ahead of the 10-race championship fight.
“Trying to get everything we can,” Earnhardt said. “We can be real aggressive with pretty much everything we do since we have the win and we’re locked into the Chase. Sometimes, that’s going to bite us, and it bit me today. After that we just worked real hard to get everything else we could out of the race. Ended up gaining a bunch more spots and getting back into the top 15 there, but definitely had a much better car — a top-five car for sure.”
While the result was less than desirable, Earnhardt emerged confident that the performance should carry over to the series’ October visit to Dover, site of the finale to the Chase-opening Challenger Round. Earnhardt and Co. finished a disappointing 17th at the Monster Mile last fall, but hopes Sunday’s comeback-filled effort is something the team can build upon.
“Starting in the back definitely made things difficult for us, so I’m pretty happy with the speed in the car,” Earnhardt said. “Once we found out we were starting in the back, I really wrote off the result no matter what it was and just wanted to make sure we had good speed, because that track is where we really stumbled last year in the Chase. So we need to run better there for sure later in the season, and I think we’ve got a good baseline of something that’ll work.”
Before Dover ever comes into view, Earnhardt has more pressing matters in Sunday’s Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400 (1 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM) at Pocono Raceway, where he has a recent hot streak cooking. Earnhardt was 0-for-28 for his career at the Tricky Triangle until last season, when he swept both annual events at the Pennsylvania track.
If Earnhardt is able to connect for a third straight victory at Pocono, he’ll join elite company in NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison and the late Tim Richmond as the track’s only three-in-a-row winners. Pocono Raceway president Brandon Igdalsky, on hand in Victory Lane for both ends of Earnhardt’s double last season, told Dirty Mo Radio that the effect of his success was palpable.
“He takes the lead, and any track, anywhere — the place goes bonkers and it was the same thing here last year, watching fans’ reaction,” Igdalsky said. “Then to see him do it a second time and now to be trying to go for what only two drivers have accomplished with winning three in a row, it’s going to be quite a feat if he can do it.”
Big Download. @DaleJr discusses up-and-down day. @bigdalsky talks about a @poconoraceway 3-peat. #tdjd by @spyoptic: http://t.co/nrBNfRddzU
— Dirty Mo Radio (@DirtyMoRadio) June 2, 2015