Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 National Guard team overcame several setbacks to power their way to a 10th-place finish in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Phoenix International Raceway.
With his 10th-place finish, Earnhardt advanced to the 17th position in the championship standings, and trails leader Kyle Busch by 25 points and is only eight points away from 10th-place.
Earnhardt lined up 35th for Sunday’s 312-lap event and at the drop of the green flag began a steady progression toward the front of the field and with three caution periods plaguing the first 50 laps of the event, crew chief Steve Letarte had time to fine-tune the handling of the No. 88 Chevrolet.
Earnhardt was running 17th on Lap 67 when another competitor started spinning on the back stretch, collecting 13 other drivers in the melee. Earnhardt made contact with the competitor in front of him, resulting in minor damage to the nose of the blue-and-white Chevrolet, but Earnhardt was able to skillfully swerve his way through the pileup.
After a 14 minute red-flag period, the crew went to work repairing the nose, but Earnhardt was assessed a pit road penalty for entering pit road to fast, and he was sent to the tail of the longest line and restarted 21st on Lap 72.
Despite the minor damage to the nose, Earnhardt once again made a slow charge toward the front of the field, and was running 14th on Lap 238, when he notified Letarte that it felt like he had a loose wheel. Two laps later, Letarte called him down pit road for four fresh tires and fuel.
Earnhardt went a lap down to the leaders during the unscheduled pit stop, but was now in the fuel window to make it to the end of the race without stopping while the leaders would need to make their way down pit road.
Green-flag pit stops began on Lap 274, and as the leaders made their way down pit road, Earnhardt made his way back on the lead lap and climbed the leaderboard, cracking the top 10 on Lap 283, and when the final caution flag waved on Lap 285, Earnhardt followed the leaders down pit road.
During the pit stop, Earnhardt overshot the pit stall and the team had to push the No. 88 Chevy back into the designated area before bolting on four fresh tires and adding fuel, but quick work by the over-the-wall team got Earnhardt off pit road in 14th.
The field went back to green-flag racing on Lap 290 for a 22-lap showdown, and Earnhardt made up four positions during the closing laps to cross the finish line 10th, behind race winner and teammate Jeff Gordon.
Earnhardt’s other teammates Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin finished third and 13th, respectively.