Dale Jr. had a flat right-front tire, hit the wall, spun out, and fell off the lead lap twice. Yet, he recovered to finish sixth at Texas Motor Speedway.
Race: AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway
Track Specs: 1.5-mile quad-oval / 334 laps
Weather: Sunny, 65 degrees
Race Winner: Jimmie Johnson
Dale Jr.’s Finish: 6th
Dale Earnhardt Jr. overcame multiple misfortunes to record a strong sixth-place finish in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. The finish, Earnhardt’s third consecutive top-six effort, gives the No. 88 Kelley Blue Book team its 20th top-10 result of the season.
After Saturday’s practice was washed out by rain, Earnhardt and the other drivers started the race facing a track they had minimal time on. Similar to several other drivers early in the race, Earnhardt faced tire trouble when he had a flat right-front tire while running fifth on lap 48. He eased his Chevrolet into the pits and fell a lap down after making an unscheduled pit stop, but received the free pass under a lap-52 caution to rejoin the leaders.
Earnhardt restarted 37th on lap 58, but wasted little time knifing his way all the way up to third at lap 149 while reporting a loose condition with his race car. The No. 88 restarted fourth on lap 155 and brushed the wall out of turn four while racing three wide with Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards. The damage magnified the car’s looseness and eventually caused Earnhardt to spin at lap 167. He was able to prevent the car from suffering further damage, but dropped off the lead lap for a second time. The caution allowed Earnhardt to pit for repairs to the right-rear quarter panel of his No. 88 Chevrolet.
Eventually, Earnhardt claimed his second free pass of the day and began yet another charge up the leaderboard. Despite sporting a battered and bruised look to his No. 88 car, Earnhardt managed to climb back inside the top 10 for good at lap 233. He wasn’t done there though. A lengthy green-flag stint allowed Earnhardt to advance to sixth before the race’s final caution at lap 310.
He took the final restart eighth with 18 laps remaining and picked off two more positions for the sixth-place finish.
Jimmie Johnson bypassed Brad Keselowski late in the going to pick up his fifth win of the season, and third consecutive at Texas, with Kevin Harvick, Busch and Edwards rounding out the top five.