DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 National Guard "8 Soldiers 8 Missions" Chevrolet, avoided a series of pileups in Saturday's 400-mile NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
Earnhardt started in 13th place on Saturday after NASCAR officials canceled Friday's qualifying session due to weather and the field was set according to the car owner standings.
During the opening laps on Saturday, Earnhardt noted that the No. 88 Chevrolet was loose throughout the corners and crew chief Lance McGrew used the first caution period on Lap 15 to fine-tune the handling of the camouflaged machine.
The crew bolted on four fresh tires and made air pressure and chassis adjustments and on Lap 19, Earnhardt went back to green-flag racing scored in the 31st position.
On Lap 30, Earnhardt radioed to his crew that the adjustments were too drastic and that the car was now suffering from a tight-handling condition.
Green-flag pit stops began on Lap 55, and McGrew called his driver back down pit road for four fresh tires and a pair of chassis adjustments.
Handling continued to be an issue that No. 88 team worked to address, but Earnhardt didn't stop making his way through the field, and on Lap 136, he was scored 16th before a handful of pileups and caution periods plagued the final laps.
The night's seventh caution flag was displayed on Lap 142 for a three-car incident in Turn 3 in which Earnhardt had minor contact with another driver, but he managed to make it through without injuring the No. 88 machine.
The field went back to green-flag racing on Lap 145 with Earnhardt scored 15th on the scoring pylon, but three laps later a massive pileup involving 19 cars brought racing to a halt and as cars were scattered throughout Turn 3, Earnhardt stayed at the bottom of the racetrack and managed to make his way through the melee unscathed.
When the field went back to green-flag racing on Lap 152, Earnhardt was running eighth.
The evening's final caution flag was displayed on lap 159, setting up a green-white-checkered flag finish. Earnhardt took the green flag running seventh and picked up three spots to cross the finish line fourth and pick up his second top-five finish of the season.
Earnhardt climbed in the Sprint Cup championship standings by two positions to 11th and is 46 points ahead of 13th place.
Jeff Gordon, who drove the No. 24 DuPont car at Daytona, finished the race in the 3rd position.