Earnhardt slips from standings
Driver cites oil spill; NASCAR disagrees
Dale Earnhardt Jr. slipped from the top rungs of the Chase for the Sprint Cup standings Sunday, and he wasn’t happy with NASCAR after finishing 28th in the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Earnhardt smashed into the Turn 1 wall on a restart just past the halfway point and said after the race that NASCAR had not adequately cleared the track of oil that had been sprayed on the surface by Justin Allgaier’s car.
NASCAR Sprint Cup managing director Richard Buck said there wasn’t oil on the track.
“We actually had men on the ground walking that high groove, and they couldn’t see anything,” Buck said. “We had Brett (pace car driver Brett Bodine) — he’s very experienced watching and looking for that. We got the reports (from drivers), and we looked everywhere, including putting people on the ground and walking. There was no oil.”
Several cars hit the wall after Allgaier’s incident. Kyle Busch also complained after the race about the track’s condition.
Earnhardt wasn’t angry after the race, but he was animated and outspoken in discussing the incident with reporters.
“We all hit the wall,” he said. “I hit the wall. The 2 (Brad Keselowski) hit the wall. Then we ran another lap. I pitted. Then a bunch of other guys hit the wall.
“There was oil down there. It wasn’t speedy-dry (absorbent material placed on the track to speed drying of fluids). I mean, I’ve raced this (expletive) for 20 years. I know what oil and speedy-dry are. We hit fluid and flew into the freaking wall hard.
“That’s not speedy-dry. There was oil up there. There were shadows cast by the billboards across the track. That may have made it difficult for them to see some oil.”
Asked what NASCAR could have done differently, Earnhardt said, “You’ve got to get out there maybe and feel around and get your hands on the track. I hit the (expletive) wall. I know I hit oil. I’ll argue with them all day long, because I know I’m right.”
Buck said crews handled the situation as they do every week.
“We do everything we can to bring the surface back to raceable condition, and I think we’ve got an excellent record of that,” he said. “We feel absolutely confident there was no oil up in that very top groove or down below or anywhere else.”
Earnhardt's finish leaves him with a high wall to climb to advance to the Chase’s third round. Races remain at Kansas Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway in Round 2. Earnhardt won at Talladega in May, his sixth victory at NASCAR’s biggest track.
“We don’t have to be nervous,” Earnhardt said. “We’re on the outside looking in. We can be more aggressive. I’m looking forward to Talladega even more now.”