It was an exciting race to the checkered flag as Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 National Guard NASCAR racecar, pushed teammate Jimmie Johnson to a record-tying, closest-margin of victory in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Talladega, Ala. Superspeedway.
Hendrick Motorsports opened the weekend on a positive note, qualifying all four Chevrolets in the first four starting positions, with Earnhardt lining up his blue-and-white Chevy in fourth.
Prior to the drop of the green flag, Earnhardt and Johnson had spent Friday’s practice session drafting together and decided to work together for Sunday’s event. The tandem worked together for all 188 laps, and with Hendrick engines they were competitive all day.
The day’s final caution flag came out on Lap 175, setting up an 11-lap dash to the finish when the field went back to green-flag racing on Lap 177 as Earnhardt and Johnson lined up together and made a run for the front.
Four pairs were racing for the checkered flag as the field came out of Turn 4 with Earnhardt pushing Johnson. Earnhardt nudged Johnson to notify him that it was time to make their move, and Earnhardt pushed his way to the front.
Johnson scored Hendrick Motorsports’ second victory of the season with Earnhardt pushing him to Victory Lane. Earnhardt crossed the finish line fourth.
"If I couldn’t win the race, I wanted Jimmie to win the race because I had worked with him all day and he is my teammate," said Earnhardt.
Earnhardt advances to third in the championship standings. He trails leader Carl Edwards by 19 points.