Dale Earnhardt Jr. fed up with lack of speed in practice sessions
Despite going four consecutive races without a top-10 finish for the first time this season, Dale Earnhardt Jr. isn't overly worried about the speed in his No. 88 Chevrolets on race days.
Practice sessions are an altogether different matter.
After running in the top five for much of Sunday's Chase for the Sprint Cup opener at Chicagoland Speedway before fading in the final laps and finishing 11th, Earnhardt Jr. wasn't particularly upset about failing to post a stronger result.
No, the real burr under his saddle was how poorly his No. 88 car performed leading up to Sunday.
In the three practices prior to race time, Earnhardt Jr. was 13th, ninth and 26th fastest, respectively.
"We had such an awful practice," NASCAR's most popular driver said of Saturday's final tune-up for Sunday's race. "I don't know why we can't practice like we race. We never can. Every week we practice awful compared to the speed I see the competitive cars run. We're a tenth, two tenths off, and in the race we're fine, competitive. That's a hell of a thing to have to go through, but mentally for the team, it's exhausting. I don't know another crew that could take it on the chin like they do.
"They put up with whatever the damn problem is in practice, and we keep working and we make good race cars on Sunday, so that was what I thought about when we were out there running fourth and fifth. I was like, 'Yeah, this is the way this team does.'"
Crew chief Steve Letarte downplayed the notion that Earnhardt Jr.'s practice speeds are a real reason for concern.
"There's certain tracks that practice gives us an issue, but they pay points on Sunday," Letarte said. "They don't pay points on Saturday."
Starting 13th at Chicagoland after rain washed out qualifying and set the grid based on speeds from Friday's lone practice, Earnhardt Jr. was fifth by Lap 85, third by Lap 112 and was running fourth at the halfway point of the 267-lap affair.
Earnhardt Jr. lined up fifth on a restart with 18 laps to go but had slipped to ninth when the final caution flag flew with nine laps remaining. After the final restart with six laps to go, Earnhardt Jr. lost two more positions and was forced to settle for 11th in the final rundown.
"It's frustrating that I didn't do things different at the end to sort of save a few spots and finish in the top 10 like we should have, but at the same time, I would have taken 11th (today) as bad as (Saturday) was," Earnhardt Jr. said. "An average of 12th place will make this (next Chase) round, so we're on track. I didn't think it was going to be as good as it was today."
Earnhardt Jr. stood by Letarte's decision not to bring the No. 88 car to pit road for tires under either of the two cautions that came out in the final 22 laps -- even though several drivers who did stop ultimately passed Earnhardt Jr.
"I felt like we could get the job done," Earnhardt Jr. said. "After about two laps, they evened out, and the 20 (Matt Kenseth), I think we could have got back by him in about five more laps or so, but they took off for a couple laps and we started on the bottom and just never got my momentum going and had a little trouble giving up a couple spots there on those first two laps. That's when they sort of got a strike with those tires, and then they sort of evened out after a couple laps.
"I thought it was a good call. You can't take a gamble, and we'd been running in the top five all day, and we fell back to ninth or whatever on the last restart because I didn't do my job. You can't come in and take tires and restart 13th on the inside line and be screwed again. If you get those tires, you need that outside restart line, and you can't be guaranteed that. So I like the call."
Letarte likewise blamed Earnhardt Jr.'s position on the restarts -- not worn rubber -- for the late fade.
"I think we'd have been fine if we'd have maybe restarted on the top or got off the bottom in (turns) 1 and 2," Letarte said. "You're better asking the driver, probably, than me, but he didn't think tires were meaning a whole lot. I don't think it was tires, because there was guys that didn't have tires that got by us. It's just circumstances. Restarts, they're hairy, they're crazy, and we just weren't in the right lines and didn't get the best starts."
While Earnhardt Jr. and Letarte certainly hoped to finish better at Chicagoland, the two are confident they are in a good position to reach the Chase Contender Round that will include 12 of the 16 drivers in the Challenger Round.
Heading into Sunday's race at New Hampshire, Earnhardt Jr. is fifth in the standings -- 13points ahead of Ryan Newman, the first of four drivers not in position to advance. The strategy for the No. 88 bunch is to not take any unnecessary risks.
"All you can do in these first three is lose the championship," Letarte said of the races in the Challenger Round. "You can't win one."
VIDEO: Chicagoland Race Highlights
