Race: Camping World 500 at Talladega Superspeedway
Track Specs: 2.66-mile superspeedway / 188 laps
Weather: Cloudy, 70 degrees
Race Winner: Joey Logano
Dale Jr.’s Finish: 2nd
Dale Earnhardt Jr. narrowly missed out on the win Sunday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway, finishing second when the race was ended by a caution during the lone attempt at a green-white-checkered finish. The runner-up finish, Earnhardt’s fourth top-three effort in four restrictor-plate races this season, does not allow Earnhardt to advance to the Eliminator Round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Earnhardt Jr. established his No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet as the car to beat early on, racing past Jeff Gordon for the lead at lap seven. As the race ran green through lap 132, Earnhardt cycled his way through the field several times. Just prior to the race’s first caution, Earnhardt and the No. 88 team were penalized by NASCAR for the pit crew going over the wall too soon on a lap-119. The caution saved the No. 88 by allowing them to catch up to the lead back prior to being lapped by the much quicker lead pack.
After restarting 16th at lap 140, Earnhardt wasted little time rocketing back to the front, reclaiming the lead again on lap 151. He paraded the field around the 2.66-mile superspeedway before making a final green-flag pit stop at lap 170. Earnhardt briefly locked up his brakes, causing the right-front tire to slide on his entry to pit road. Crew chief Greg Ives made the decision to give Earnhardt fresh right-side tires and fuel on the pit stop, dropping the No. 88 outside the top 10.
While Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski led the field around the outside lane of the track, Earnhardt began passing cars one by one in his march to the front. When the caution flew in the final 10 laps, he was second.
After the initial attempt at a green-white-checkered finish was waved off because of a pile up, Earnhardt lined up to the inside of Logano. The No. 88 raced door to door with the No. 22 into turn one when NASCAR waved the caution for the final time after a massive pileup on the front stretch. A lengthy investigation by NASCAR to determine who was the leader, and ultimately the race winner, revealed that Logano’s No. 22 was barely edged out front, giving him his third consecutive victory.