A great start to the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup season that had Dale Earnhardt Jr. on top of the point standings came to an end Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. After three top five and two top ten finishes Earnhardt suffered his worst finish of the season coming home 24.
The day started on a high note for Earnhardt. After starting 17, Earnhardt was able to wheel his Hendrick Motorsports Chevy into the top 10. On lap 180 he avoided potential disaster. On a restart after a caution period Earnhardt in tenth checked up to avoid teammate Kasey Kahne. The result set off a melee that involved ten cars. Earnhardt’s Chevy suffered only minimal damage and the crew was able to make quick repairs.
Earnhardt was able to recover and by lap 308 of the 500 circuits he was inside the top five in fourth. In the second half of the race however, Earnhardt began to struggle reporting that his Chevy was tight and began to fall back. He lost a lap on lap 425.
While battling his way back towards the front after restarting 21 after a caution, Earnhardt’s hopes for a Martinsville win came to an end. While entering turn three on the outside of Danica Patrick and Brian Vickers on lap 464 Earnhardt was spun when Vickers pushed Patrick up into Earnhardt.
Earnhardt would lose two laps and with only a few laps left, was never able to recover past 24 place.
At the end of the day Earnhardt fell to third in the standings 12 markers behind new leader and Sunday’s race winner Jimmie Johnson. The series now heads to Texas Motor Speedway where Earnhardt finished 10 in the spring and 7 last fall.
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