Notebook: Late pit stop costs Earnhardt

Notebook: Late pit stop costs Earnhardt

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(August 21, 2011)

BROOKLYN, Mich.—It’s easy to second-guess a decision made in the heat of battle, but even Dale Earnhardt Jr. questioned the wisdom of coming to pit road before the green-white-checkered-flag finish that decided Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

 Earnhardt, who had run comfortably in the top 10 for most of the afternoon, restarted 16th after pitting for two tires on Lap 198 while the first 10 drivers to take the green flag for the restart remained on the track.

 Earnhardt finished 14th. Though he remained ninth in the Sprint Cup standings, he gave up six points to 11th place Clint Bowyer and now leads Bowyer by 30 with three races left before the Chase field is set Sept. 10 at Richmond.

 “We had a pretty good car,” Earnhardt said. “We had some bad stuff happen on pit road. We got back up to 10th or ninth, drove it up there. Then, we probably shouldn’t have pitted there at the end. I don’t know.

 “We took two tires like a lot of guys and just didn’t have the good fortune at the end on that last green-white-checkered. We were on the bottom behind the No. 00 (David Reutimann) and some other people that were as slow as hell and just couldn’t go nowhere.”

 Earnhardt said inconsistency between sets of tires also cost him.

 “We had a couple of bad sets—well, I don’t know whether they are bad sets of tires—but I put them on my car, and they drive like crap,” Earnhardt said. “Then I put on another set, and it will drive good. I don’t know how to explain that.

 “I’ve been doing that all my life. I ain’t got an explanation for it yet. I had some awesome runs where the car was really fast, then I’d put on some tires and couldn’t drive the car. So, you tell me. I don’t know.”

 Biffle baffled by the race that went awry

 or the first half of Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400, polesitter Greg Biffle had the race in his hands.

 Driving the No. 16 Pure Michigan Ford, Biffle led a race-high 86 laps before the race got away from him—in a big way.

 The end of the race left Biffle groping for answers. Was it dirty air in race traffic or a bad set of tires that set him back?

 “I don’t know what happened,” Biffle said after crossing the finish line in 20th place. “I’m not sure. I have a feeling we kind of got a bum set of tires, and then we got off on our adjustments. (The car) was really tight, and we adjusted on it, and then I think it was too loose the rest of the day.

 “But I really don’t know what happened, to be honest with you. I really don’t know right now.”