KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. hasn’t spoken with NASCAR officials about fluid on the track last weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and he hasn’t talked with fellow driver Carl Edwards about contact early in the Bank of America 500.
Both events ended with the No. 88 Chevrolet making contact with the outside wall and were factors in his 28th-place finish.
For now, the Hendrick Motorsports driver said, the focus is “on the next two races to try to win so I can advance.
“If we don’t advance,” he said, “we can change our focus.”
First up is Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway (2:15 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR). Earnhardt will start 15th in the 43-car field.
“No, I didn’t talk with either one of them,” Earnhardt said prior to qualifying Friday at Kansas.
The oil likely went unnoticed because of “shade or whatever it was that the billboards cast across the track. I don’t know why (NASCAR officials) didn’t see it or didn’t know it was there or didn’t understand it was there.”
“I think we were in good shape to rebound and get a top-10 finish before we hit the oil and the wall,” Earnhardt said. “That definitely hurt our opportunity.”
As for the incident with Edwards, which occurred earlier in the race, Earnhardt said it was impatience on the part of the Joe Gibbs Racing driver that led to the contact.
“He didn’t hit me in the quarter panel, he hit me in the back of the car,” he said. “I think he was just impatient there.”
Less than 15 laps later, Earnhardt Jr. brought out the caution when a right-side tire went down, a result of the contact with the wall. He restarted 37th, one lap down, but was able to work his way back onto the lead lap he hit the wall again.
The finish left Earnhardt 11th out of the 12 Chase for the Sprint Cup contenders. Only the top eight advance into the Eliminator Round, which will be determined following the Kansas and Talladega Superspeedway events.
“Right now, it is so difficult at some of these mile and a halves,” Edwards said, “everyone is so protective of their position and … aggressive and trying to get every spot you can. It’s racing and you just have to do the best you can.
“You have to make decisions in the heat of the moment and every once in a while stuff happens. I’m definitely glad we didn’t suffer any damage from it (at Charlotte) and I wish it wouldn’t have turned out the way it did to end up ruining the 88’s (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) day, but it was just tough racing.”