NASCAR Cup Series

Late-race wreck ends Earnhardt Jr.'s championship quest

Published Oct. 19, 2014 6:30 p.m. ET

Jared Turner

When history looks back on Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, it will likely go down as one of his best years ever.

It will not be remembered for a championship, however.

Needing to score a victory Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway to move on to the Eliminator Round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup and keep his title hopes alive, Earnhardt Jr. finished 31st after leading twice for a total of 31 laps but spinning on a late restart after contact with Greg Biffle.

Running right in the middle of a huge pack after lining up 16th on the first of two attempts at a green-white-checkered finish, Earnhardt Jr. went sliding through the infield grass after Biffle's Ford moved up the track into the No. 88 Chevrolet on the backstretch.

It appeared that Biffle was hit first by David Gilliland, causing his car to veer into Earnhardt's.

Also involved in the accident were Paul Menard and rookie Michael Annett.

"I don't know if I came down a little bit or what," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I thought I was holding my line. We were all kind of tightened up there."

Earnhardt Jr. avoided contact with the wall but headed to pit road under caution for four tires. Still on the lead lap, the Hendrick Motorsports driver restarted 32nd and was only able to gain one position in the final two laps.

Prior to the wreck, Earnhardt Jr. had been running well outside the top 10 after earlier appearing to have one of the strongest cars and spending most of the race's first half in the top five. Earnhardt Jr. sent the Talladega fans into a frenzy when he took the lead for the first time on Lap 75 and went on to lead 29 consecutive laps.

"We worked real hard all day long trying to run up front, and we really needed to be up front all day long," NASCAR's 11-time most popular driver said. "We got shuffled back. I made a move trying to get toward the front, and it didn't work out, so we lost a lot of track position and never got it back."

Once slipping back, Earnhardt Jr. didn't believe his odds of getting in position to win were good in the final laps, despite leading earlier.

"You need to be up front," he said. "It's just the way the draft works. You're not going to pass 10, 12 cars there in six or seven laps. We tried and it just didn't work out."

As for the disappointment of not advancing in the Chase after winning three races earlier in the season and appearing for most of 2014 to be one of five or six drivers with a strong shot at the title, Earnhardt Jr. shrugged it off.

"There's probably been worse things," he said with a slight laugh. "I'm not retiring or anything, so we're gonna try next year. We've had a good season and got a lot to be looking forward to. I'm definitely not going to get too tore up about it. We didn't run well."

Speaking just before the race ended, team owner Rick Hendrick chalked Earnhardt's late-race incident up to the volatile nature of restrictor-plate racing.

"It's just Talladega," Hendrick said. "We've been up front all day. ... You just can't avoid it down here when you're running that close together. It's not easy."

Wild race! Congrats @keselowski. Impressive win. We ran hard all day. On to @MartinsvilleSwy to try 4 a clock. 4 trophies still out there.
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) October 19, 2014