Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 15th in a crash-filled NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, sustaining damage in one of three mammoth, multi-car wrecks inside 17 laps to go and limping his No. 5 Taxslayer.com Chevrolet home to the checkered flag of the DRIVE4COPD 300.

Earnhardt Jr. led five times for eight laps and was a contender the entire afternoon, but a chain of events in the late stages proved detrimental for his chances to win. First, he sustained minimal damage in a massive pile-up on lap 103 of 120. While not counted as one of the 19 cars involved in the wreck, his damage to the right-front quarter panel did require two pit stops under caution for cosmetic repair.

When the race restarted with nine laps to go, Earnhardt Jr. was 14th.
It took him all of one lap to pick off six positions, but it put him directly in the line of fire of Sam Hornish’s spinning car with seven laps to go, triggering a nine-car pile-up. This time Earnhardt Jr.’s car sustained heavier damage, as Hornish’s car slammed the entire right side of the No. 5 Chevrolet. The damage didn’t knock Earnhardt Jr. out of the race, but it left the No. 5 car unable to mix it up with the leaders in a green-white-checkered sprint to the finish.

While Earnhardt Jr. coasted to the finish, the fireworks up front were not over. On the final lap, all of the front-runners – Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Elliott Sadler and more – took each other out on the final turn, opening the door for James Buescher to squeeze through and win.

“The Taxslayer car was really good, and I had a lot of fun driving it,” said Earnhardt Jr. “I didn’t need a drafting partner. I could pretty much go where I wanted, when I wanted. When I went to the back, I could go straight up to the front, no problem. I told Bruce (Cook) that if he builds a car like this at Talladega, we’ll go out and win the thing. He built a great car, and it’s unfortunate that we got collected there at the end, but that’s part of it. I have to thank the 88 Cup crew for pitting the car today. It means a lot to me when they do that, I really appreciate it.”