Remember when we pointed out how strong Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s season was, making it that much more disappointing he was knocked out of the Chase for the Sprint Cup at Talladega? Well his display of dominance over much of this year’s NASCAR field isn’t over, after the 40-year old drove to his first-ever win at Martinsville Speedway Sunday.
You’d think the result would be bitter sweet for Earnhardt, whose championship hopes were crushed after he was wrecked at Talladega last week. But he was all smiles Sunday, as the win marked the Team Chevy driver’s 30th outing to Martinsville, a place where the late Dale Earnhardt won six times. It’s also just two hours north of his North Carolina home, making it a special place for Junior.
“I could care less about all the points by now,” Earnhardt said post-race. “We love winning races. Winning races is the best thing.”
Jeff Gordon finished second behind Earnhardt, making him first among the eligible Chase drivers who are left. Gordon, the sole Hendrick Motorsports driver left in the Chase, now sits first in the standings ahead of Chevy’s Ryan Newman and Ford’s Joey Logano.
Other Chevrolet drivers in the top ten at Martinsville were Tony Stewart and AJ Allmendinger, neither of whom are left in the Chase. Some drivers still competing for the Sprint Cup had particularly rough races, including Brad Keselowski, who suffered a blown transmission early on.
The next race in the final ‘Eliminator’ round before the Championship race next month will take place at Texas Motor Speedway on Nov 2nd. That race and the following Quicken Loans Race For Heroes 500 at Phoenix on Nov. 9th will decide the final four drivers who will advance to the Championship Round at Miami-Homestead.
Comments
In my opinion the new chase format has made the races almost unwatchable.
I agree that this crap is taking the most consistent drivers and eliminating them from an over chance at a championship.
Just look at how Matt Kenseth with no wins is still in contention while Earnhardt, Johnson are out with Keseloski and Harvick both on the verge of getting bumped.
When you have a driver competitive with no wins and one with 6 wins in danger something is terribly wrong.
Congrats to JR as this is one track he really wanted to win at. His Dad used to ride him hard on his performance here so winning that clock means a lot to him. I remember his dad telling him he should hit the pace car as it was the only thing he did not hit on the track his first trip there.
Now if he can get his Darlington win.
But I just wish they would give the winner more points and go back to the original points system we had for years. Time to stop this fake competition at the end of the year as it just makes it where the most lucky driver at the end win. Harvick is about out of it because of Kenseths screw up taking him out. Not much he can do now but try to win one of the next couple races to move on.