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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. was two laps away from potentially winning for the first time since November of 2015, leading the second of two Can-Am Duel qualifying races here Thursday night at Daytona International Speedway.
Then Austin Dillon cleared the No. 41 of Kurt Busch, slid up in line behind second-place Denny Hamlin and Earnhardt’s goose was cooked.
With no drafting help from behind, Earnhardt could do little but watch as car after car zoomed by on the high side. By the time the freight train had passed, Earnhardt was battling just to get back inside the top five with one more trip around the 2.5-mile layout remaining.
“I was hoping he would go with me but I would have probably done the same thing he did,” Earnhardt said of Dillon’s move. “He finished fifth. He pushed that 11 in the lead, he was in second; it didn’t really work out that awesome for him.”
Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing finished just one spot ahead of Earnhardt’s No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, which led 53 of 60 laps. It was Earnhardt’s first competitive appearance since mid-season of last year. He sat out the final 18 races of the season after suffering concussion-like symptoms.
WATCH: Hamlin, Dillon slide by Junior
If there was any rust, it wasn’t evident. Earnhardt, who will still start on the front row of Sunday’s Daytona 500 (2 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR) battled briefly with Hamlin in the early portion of the qualifying race before settling down to lead 23 laps. Ryan Blaney (Wood Brothers Racing) won the race off pit road and led three laps before Earnhardt moved back on point at Lap 31.
And for most of the remaining laps, it was vintage Earnhardt, one of the series’ best at restrictor-plate racing and a two-time winner of the Daytona 500 as he was able to move high and low to keep the lines of traffic in his rear-view mirror.
Until the very end.
“I felt great,” he said. “I felt like I’m a really good plate racer, there are some guys out there that are sure picking it up. Denny is one of them, (Joey) Logano … there are a few other guys that sure make it harder to win these things each time we come here. But I felt great out there.”
Hamlin is the defending Daytona 500 winner. Dillon is a four-year veteran but still searching for that first trip to Victory Lane in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Both had capable rides Thursday evening.
“I think that we just worked together the entire race,” Hamlin said of Dillon’s move that got him to the front. “It’s no different than if it was the other way around … I’d have a hard time not pushing him to a win.”
As long as the drivers ran side-by-side behind Earnhardt and Hamlin, the two lines of cars kept each other in check and unable to make a run on the front two. That changed when Dillon was able to slide in behind Hamlin and leave a big gap with no help behind the race leader.
“Maybe if he would have gone with me we might have run first and second,” Earnhardt said. “You never know. He did what he had to do and I might have done the same thing.
“Denny had such an awesome run. The 3 (of Dillon) is feeding off that energy and had that same momentum. He’s got to take his opportunities to try to get to the front. Hell, he might have won the race, you never know, if a couple of things had worked out for him.”