Notebook: Promising finish for Dale Earnhardt Jr. is gone in a cloud of dust

Notebook: Promising finish for Dale Earnhardt Jr. is gone in a cloud of dust

June 24, 2012

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

SONOMA, Calif. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn't have the speed to hang with the contenders in Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350, but perseverance and astute pit calls had him in position to escape the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series road-course race of the season with a top-15 finish.

That's when a multicar wreck after the final restart quashed his prospects. His No. 88 Chevrolet damaged in the melee, Earnhardt struggled home with a 23rd-place result, one week after ending a 143-race drought with a victory at Michigan.

He fell one notch to third in the Cup standings, 14 points behind series leader Matt Kenseth.

"We had new tires, and we were running good and restarted 13th (for a green-white-checkered-flag finish)," Earnhardt said. "So, if it had been somebody else getting wrecked at the end, maybe we would have finished in the top 10.

"I'm just mad because we didn't run better . . . I've run better here. We weren't good all weekend. We've got to put a better car on the racetrack. I ain't the best road-course racer out there, but I can damn sure do better than that."

EXCELLENT AUDITION FOR VICKERS

Brian Vickers is making his role as a spot starter for Michael Waltrip Racing pay dividends.

Fresh from a sixth-place finish in the GTE-Am class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans -- in a Ferrari 458 he co-drove with MWR principal Rob Kauffman and Rui Aguas -- Vickers came home fourth Sunday at Sonoma, overcoming a pit road speeding penalty to post his second top-five in three starts this season as a fill-in for Mark Martin.

"I haven't had many Cup races this year, but we've made the most of them," said Vickers, who signed on for six races this season -- two each at Bristol, Martinsville and New Hampshire -- and had his schedule extended to include the road courses at Sonoma and Watkins Glen after finishing fifth at Bristol in March.

The road racing at Le Mans was a positive for Vickers, but he had to adjust to the heavier stock cars when he returned to the United States.

"It was great to run Le Mans and then come here to road race," Vickers said. "I learned a lot about road racing. I kind of had to undo some of what I learned (at Le Mans) to get back in these cars. It took me a couple of runs to get back to the heavy car with all the horsepower."

It was another excellent audition for Vickers, who is looking for a full-time Cup job. Team owner Michael Waltrip allowed after the race that MWR might consider adding a fourth team with Vickers as the driver. According to Waltrip, that would be a better option than waiting for Martin, 53, to retire.

"I wouldn't wait around for Mark to quit, if I was him," Waltrip quipped. "I would put something else in my contract if I was him, because Mark is probably going to do it for a while."

"He might live forever," added Clint Bowyer, Sunday's race winner. "He might be doing this at 110."

DISAPPOINTING DAY FOR AMBROSE

Marcos Ambrose's roller-coaster weekend ended on a frustrating note. After winning the pole in Friday's time trials, Ambrose didn't have the handling or pace he needed in Sunday's race.

Arguably the most talented road racer in the Cup series, Ambrose led the first 11 laps but fell back through the field after Jeff Gordon passed him for the top spot.

"We really missed it," said Ambrose, who rallied to finish eighth but was bitterly disappointed with his run. "We missed it bad, and we did good to recover and get a top-10 out of it. We'll take it and move on.

"We got the pole and had a lot of speed. We just missed it for the race. We were slow. It was just terrible. We had no speed in the car, and we paid the price."