NASCAR Cup Series

Earnhardt Jr. blows tire, hits wall while leading Hollywood Casino 400

Published Oct. 5, 2014 3:58 p.m. ET

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Hendrick Motorsports' Dale Earnhardt Jr. appeared to be having a solid day in the opening race of the Contender Round of the Chase Sunday at Kansas Speedway -- and then in an instant, it all went away.

Starting in the eighth spot, Earnhardt Jr. took the lead for the first time on Lap 76, and was out front three times for a total of 45 laps.

However, as Earnhardt Jr. was leading on Lap 121 he blew a right front tire as he exited Turn 4 and hit the outside wall hard. The incident brought out the fourth caution of the day,

The damage was so severe Earnhardt Jr. pulled his car behind the wall for further repairs.

"Going into Turn 3 the surface of the tire unwound all the way across the surface," Earnhardt Jr. said, as his team was hard at work on the car. "I don't know. The whole surface of the tire unwound like a string and it just came off the car, then it popped off in the corner. I felt it coming apart through the corner. The surface of the tire is gone. The whole cap came off. Must have been a recap."

After putting all four cars in the top 10 during the May race at Kansas, two of the four Hendrick Motorsports were behind the wall with heavy damage before the halfway mark of Sunday's race. Just 37 laps earlier, Earnhardt Jr.'s teammate Jimmie Johnson wrecked with Greg Biffle and was forced to take his car behind the wall for repairs.

Through the three races in the Challenger Round of the Chase, Earnhardt Jr. and his Steve Letarte-led team struggled to show the competitiveness they used to get them in the Chase with three wins at Daytona and Pocono. However, this weekend the team turned things around and had one of the strongest cars in the field.

Despite the early wreck, the team's ability to rebound has the fan favorite optimistic they can overcome this setback over the next two Contender Round races at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway over the next two weeks.

"I've got to hand it to the guys, that was a great racecar," he said. "We hadn't been running very good the last several weeks, and we came in here with a great attitude and a great fast car. This is the car we won Pocono with both times. It's a good car. Hopefully we didn't hurt it too bad. We'll just go to the next one. This is going to hurt us in the points, obviously. We've got a lot of racing left, a lot of races to win, and we're running good."

After the incident, Earnhardt Jr. was listed in the 38th spot and behind the wall for repairs. 

VIDEO: Dale Earnhardt Jr. blows the right front tire in his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and hits the wall

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