Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins at Martinsville as calamity strikes Chase favorites
Oct. 26, 2014
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
MARTINSVILLE,
Va.— On a day that saw two of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup
favorites suffer potentially catastrophic problems, Dale Earnhardt Jr.
stole a victory from
the title contenders on Sunday, passing Tony Stewart for the lead with
less than four laps left in the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at
Martinsville Speedway and pulling away for his fourth victory of the
season.
Ten
years and one day removed from the tragic Hendrick Motorsports plane
crash that claimed the lives of 10 people, including owner Rick
Hendrick’s son Ricky, Earnhardt took
the checkered flag for the first time at the .526-mile short track,
earning for the first time the grandfather clock trophy he has coveted
throughout his career.
In
fifth position for a restart on Lap 495, Earnhardt made short work of
Clint Bowyer (restarting fourth on the outside) and three drivers who
had stayed out on old tires,
including Stewart, and arrived at the finish line .344 seconds ahead of
teammate Jeff Gordon, who took second place and the lead in the
Eliminator Round of the Chase.
“Oh,
man, we’ve been trying to win here for so many years,” said Earnhardt,
who collected his 23rd victory in his 538th start. “And this place is so
special to me. I’ve wanted
to win here so bad. We brought the good cars. I’m out of breath from
celebrating more than driving. It’s a real emotional win.
“This
team on pit road was great, and (crew chief) Steve (Letarte) and the
guys did a real good job all day. They gave me a great shot at it there
with the call at the end
to take tires (under the 15th caution on Lap 492 of 500). I can’t
believe we won here. This means so much to all of us.”
Adding to the intense emotion of the moment were thoughts of the tragedy of a decade earlier.
“I lost
my daddy (seven-time Cup champion Dale Earnhardt Sr.) a long time ago,
and I know how hard that is,” said Earnhardt, who was eliminated from
the Chase a week earlier
at Talladega. “I can’t imagine losing the magnitude of people that Rick
lost. My heart goes out to him during this weekend.
“I love
that his cars are good (enough) here to get the victory. So this honors
them. I’m just real proud to be able to win at Martinsville in a
Hendrick car. They always win
here.”
Behind
Hendrick teammates Earnhardt and Gordon, Chase driver Ryan Newman came
home third, posting his fifth straight top 10 in the Chase and climbing
to second in the standings,
three points behind Gordon.
Stewart held fourth place, and Joey Logano ran fifth, his sixth top-five result in seven Chase races this year.
Kevin
Harvick and Brad Keselowski weren’t as fortunate. On Lap 228, Matt
Kenseth wheel-hopped into Turn 1, spun and knocked Kevin Harvick’s
Chevrolet hard into the outside
wall near the apex of Turns 1 and 2.
After
extensive time in the garage for repairs, Harvick finished 33rd, 43 laps
off the pace, and fell to eighth in the Chase standings, 33 points
behind Gordon, who led the
most laps on Sunday (130). After the next two races, at Texas and
Phoenix, the Chase field will be cut from eight drivers to four.
A week
after preserving his place in the Chase with a victory at Talladega,
Keselowski suffered a mechanical issue that put him right back into a
deep hole. Moments after a
restart on Lap 434, the rear differential in Keselowski’s No. 2 Team
Penske Ford failed.
Ultimately,
Keselowski finished 31st after repairs and trails Gordon by 31 points.
With five Chase drivers within seven points of the lead after
Martinsville, Keselowski and
Harvick likely will have to win one of the next two races to advance to
the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Harvick, for one, wasn’t about to take his misfortune lightly.
“Yeah, he (Kenseth) won’t win this championship,” Harvick promised. “If we don’t, he won’t.”
Kenseth, who finished sixth despite all the extracurricular activity, took full responsibility for the wreck.
“I
don't blame him for feeling that way, honestly,” said Kenseth, who
trails Gordon by five points. “It was a mistake—he was an innocent
bystander and was in the wrong place
at the wrong time. I totally understand how he feels and I totally
understand why he would say that.
“I
totally get it. He knows it was a mistake, too, but that doesn't really
help him. I don't really blame him. He got taken out of the race for
being in the wrong place at
the wrong time."
No comments:
Post a Comment