Race: Windows 10 400 at Pocono Raceway
Track Specs: 2.5-mile tri-oval / 160 laps
Weather: Clear, 78 degrees
Race Winner: Matt Kenseth
Dale Jr.’s Finish: 4th
Dale Earnhardt Jr. continued his recent streak of strong finishes at Pocono Raceway with a fourth-place result in Sunday's Windows 10 400. This time, however, it was fuel mileage that produced the No. 88 team's 11th top-five of the season and kept Earnhardt third in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings through 21 races.
Earnhardt started 15th and began working his way forward immediately. By lap 14, the No. 88 Windows 10 Chevrolet was already inside the top 10. Through a series of varying pit strategies, Earnhardt climbed his way up to third before a green-flag pit stop at lap 53. Attempting to maintain pit speed without the aid of the lights on his tachometer, Earnhardt was deemed too fast entering pit road. The penalty forced the No. 88 to make an unscheduled pass through pit lane the next lap and dropped him outside the top 25.
After losing track position, crew chief Greg Ives called Earnhardt to pit road under the next caution to adjust on the car's tight handling condition. Earnhardt found himself in the middle of a three-wide battle entering turn one on a lap-72 restart. Cole Whitt's No. 35 car made contact with the No. 88's left-rear corner, sending Earnhardt spinning. Fortunately, the two-time Pocono winner was able to keep the car out of the wall and come to the pits to repair the damage.
Earnhardt was scored 32nd for the final restart with 63 laps remaining and quickly climbed to 21st where he'd seemingly be stuck for the balance of the race. In the closing laps, Earnhardt, who pitted several laps later than other cars, was able to make up multiple positions as cars ran out of fuel on track or pitted to top off on gas. The end result for the No. 88 was a fourth-place finish.
Matt Kenseth cruised to the victory after Joey Logano and Kyle Busch both ran short on fuel in the late laps. Brad Keselowski, Jeff Gordon, Earnhardt and Greg Biffle rounded out the top five.