Dale Jr. raced inside the top 10 early before contact from another car sent the No. 88 into the wall. From there, the No. 88 team worked to overcome additional trouble on their way to a 28th-place finish.
Race: Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway
Track Specs: 1.5-mile quad-oval / 334 laps
Weather: Sunny, 68 degrees
Race Winner: Joey Logano
Dale Jr.’s Finish: 28th
For the second consecutive season, the opening race of the Contender Round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup was unkind to Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 Nationwide team. Contact with another car on lap 70 turned a promising start into a downward spiral day that resulted in a 28th-place finish in Sunday's Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Earnhardt raced his way into the top 10 immediately despite reporting a tight race car. After fluctuating between seventh and 13th in the opening 100 miles, Earnhardt restarted 12th at lap 66 and utilized the outside groove on the restart to jump back into the top 10. Racing into turn one on lap 70, Earnhardt received a nudge from Carl Edwards' No. 19 car. The contact, while slight, was enough to send the No. 88 out of the groove and into the outside wall. Several laps later, the caution waved when Earnhardt's right-front tire gave way resulting in contact with the outside wall.
A lengthy pit stop to repair the damage dropped Earnhardt off the lead lap. The team fell another lap down through a sequence of green-flag pit stops, but regained one of two laps by virtue of a wave around under a lap-167 caution.
The team's pending resurgence was thwarted once again after Earnhardt drove through fluid on a lap-190 restart and pancaked the car's right side again. The damage was enough to force Earnhardt to bring the No. 88 to pit road once again, dropping him three laps down.
In the end, Earnhardt took the checkered flag 28th. He now ranks 11th of 12 Chase-eligible drivers with two races remaining in the Contender Round.
Joey Logano dominated the race to earn his fourth victory of the season and clinch a spot in the Eliminator Round of the Chase. Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch rounded out the top five.