Race: Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway
Track Specs: .75-mile D-shaped oval
Weather: Clear, 68 degrees
Race Winner: Carl Edwards
Dale Jr.’s Finish: 13th
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 Mountain Dew team claimed a 13th-place finish in Sunday’s race at Richmond International Raceway. The finish has Earnhardt seventh in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings through nine races this season.
Throughout the race, Earnhardt and crew chief Greg Ives worked to improve the No. 88 Chevrolet’s handling. For much of the afternoon, Earnhardt reported his car was too loose on entry and exit, but he lacked the front grip he needed in the center of the turns to compete for the race lead.
Earnhardt slowly, but surely climbed the leaderboard over the race’s middle stages. Late in the race, he climbed to as high as fifth thanks to quick work on pit road and gutsy driving by Earnhardt on a flurry of restarts.
For the race’s final restart with 36 laps remaining, Earnhardt lined up ninth. As the laps clicked away, he slipped back a few spots to 13th at the checkered flag.
Carl Edwards bumped his teammate Kyle Busch out of the way to take his second consecutive win. Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne and Kevin Harvick made up the remainder of the top five.
The series heads to Talladega Superspeedway next Sunday where Earnhardt owns six victories, including the spring race last season.