Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 National Guard NASCAR racecar, finished 14th in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway.
Earnhardt traditionally has run well at Michigan, and he backed that up by posting the eighth-fastest lap in Friday afternoon’s qualifying session
In Sunday’s 200-lap event, Earnhardt had a solid opening run despite working with a loose-handling car. He maintained his footing inside the top 10 until the caution flag waved on Lap 53, allowing him to bring his car down pit road for service to ease the handling on his blue-and-white National Guard machine.
Dale Jr. went back to green-flag racing running 12th on Lap 56.
He slipped back to the 14th position when the third caution flag waved at the half-way point of the race. Earnhardt brought his No. 88 Chevrolet down pit road for routine service then, but a lug-nut fell off during the pit stop, costing the team extra time on pit road.
Earnhardt was scored 25th for the Lap 107 restart.
Despite the setback, Earnhardt quickly regained the lost ground and picked up 13 positions in 24 laps. He was running 10th when the caution flag waved on Lap 196, setting up a green-white-checkered finish, and Crew chief Steve Letarte made the call to come down for right-side tires under caution.
The No. 88 was scored 15th for the restart, and Earnhardt picked up one more position before crossing the finish line 14th.
Earnhardt maintains the ninth position in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship standings and has a 30-point lead over 11th-place Clint Bowyer with three races remaining until the field is set for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.