Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 National Guard team were poised for a top-10 finish, but a late-race pit road penalty sidetracked those efforts May 7.
The team fought back for a 14th-place finish in Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina.
Earnhardt maintained the fourth position in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship standings, and trails leader Carl Edwards by 47 points after 10 races in the 2011 season.
Heavy rain showers cut Friday’s practice time short and the No. 88 team did not have the opportunity to practice in qualifying trim, but the track dried in time for the Friday evening qualifying session and Earnhardt posted the 30th-fastest time.
During the opening laps of Saturday’s race, Earnhardt struggled with handling of his green-and-silver Chevy, but was able to make some forward progress.
The night’s second caution flag was waved on Lap 34, and that afforded crew chief Steve Letarte the opportunity to fine-tune the handling. Earnhardt was running 22nd as he made his way down pit road for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment.
The No. 88 team’s quick work picked up Earnhardt two spots on pit road.
The field went back to green-flag racing on Lap 41, and Earnhardt continued his ascent up the leaderboard. He continued to work with Letarte to fine-tune the handling and cracked the top 10 before the race’s half-way point.
Earnhardt was running sixth when green-flag pit stops began on Lap 319. Nine laps later, Letarte called his driver to pit road for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment, but as Earnhardt made his way to pit road, he hit the cone indicating the pit road commitment line.
NASCAR assessed him with a commitment line violation and was forced to serve a pass-through penalty.
The penalty put him one lap down to the leaders and running in the 20th position.
In the closing laps, Earnhardt raced his way to the “Lucky Dog” dog position and got back on the lead lap during the night’s 10th caution and crossed the finish line 14th.