USA TODAY International Edition
EARNHARDT QUIETLY AWESOME IN CHASE
Seven top- 10s put popular driver fifth in standings
AVONDALE, ARIZ. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is quietly having one of the best title runs of any driver this season.
Earnhardt is fifth in the Sprint Cup standings. He is out of championship contention and never really had a shot at the title after a blown engine at Chicagoland Speedway left him with a 35th- place result to start the 10- race Chase for the Sprint Cup.
But since then he has been at the top of his game, though many might not have noticed.
Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson has dominated the spotlight in his battle with Matt Kenseth for what would be Johnson’s sixth championship.
But if you take away the blown engine, Earnhardt’s average Chase finish is 5.9, second best behind points leader Johnson’s 4.7 average.
Is it possible his newfound momentum could serve as a springboard into 2014?
“We’ve been quick and one of the best cars every week,” Earnhardt said after finishing fourth Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway. “Hopefully, if we don’t win damn Homestead ( this weekend), we’ll still have that speed when we show up in Daytona ( next season).”
Thanks to the bad start and a lack of wins — Earnhardt hasn’t gone to victory lane this season — NASCAR’s most popular driver has been under the radar despite running well.
In the eight races since Chicagoland, Earnhardt has seven top- 10 finishes. He tied a career high Sunday with his 21st top- 10 finish of the season; only Johnson, with 23, has more in 2013.
And if Earnhardt performs well in the season finale, he could rise to fourth in the standings.
That finish would be second best of his 14- year career and his best while at Hendrick, where he has been since 2008.
“Just because we’re not in the title hunt, they’re not laying down,” Earn- hardt said of his crew. “They’re working as hard as anybody. ( Crew chief ) Steve ( Letarte) is doing a good job. They’re putting great setups under the cars.”
Since Earnhardt’s cars come out of the same shop as Johnson’s, it’s easy to compare the two teams and ask why one isn’t performing as well as the other.
But Earnhardt hasn’t been all that far behind his teammate.
With the exception of Chicagoland, Earnhardt has finished an average of three positions behind Johnson in the seven Chase races in which his teammate has had a better result, including runner- up finishes to Johnson at Dover International Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway.
To get another top- five Sunday — his fourth of the Chase — Earnhardt had to overcome an ill- timed pit stop for a loose wheel. The stop, which came during a green- flag run, dropped him to 32nd place and a lap behind the leaders.
But he rallied back into the top 10 within 100 laps of the incident and was among a trio of Hendrick cars in the top five. Kasey Kahne was second, Johnson was third and Jeff Gordon was 14th.
“Our cars ran really well, and we had a real shot at it,” team owner Rick Hendrick said. “When you can come out here and run second, third and fourth, that’s great.”
Of course, it would certainly help momentum for 2014 if Earnhardt could end the season by converting his recent success into a win. His only victory in the last five seasons came in June 2012 at Michigan International Speedway.
“It’d be good if we could go ahead and get one,” he said. “But if we have to wait, hopefully we haven’t lost anything when the next season starts.”