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But for Earnhardt to take advantage of his car, his team continually had to make adjustments. Within the first few laps, Earnhardt radioed to crew chief Tony Eury Jr. that the tires were chattering in Turn 3 and Turn 4. When the first caution flag flew on Lap 10, the No. 88 pitted a lap later for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment. Earnhardt dropped to 31st after the stop, but he said the car was turning better. He acknowledged the right tire was sliding a little, but overall the car’s handling had improved. That showed as Earnhardt drove the No. 88 through the field to take the lead on Lap 60. On Lap 61, the No. 88 team pitted again for four tires and fuel. Eury called for an air pressure adjustment to help Earnhardt get through the corners better. On Lap 68, Earnhardt said the car was handling very neutral, and he wouldn’t change a thing. On Lap 70, he pitted again for fuel only, which cycled him to second on the leader board. He was chasing the No. 17 of Matt Kenseth. During the next fuel run, Earnhardt fell to sixth. He told his team the car was loose going into Turn 1, and the right rear tire was very slick. On Lap 105, he slipped to eighth and said the car was real loose on the entrance of the corners. During the next 70 laps, the team pitted for tires and fuel, making minimal adjustments. Earnhardt said the car got better about 20 laps into a run. It took a while for the car to come around from new tires and adjustments, but overall he was happy with the handling. On Lap 179, a caution flag flew for debris on the track. Earnhardt stayed on the track and took the lead once again. The final pit stop came on Lap 215. Earnhardt, who was running third at the time, said he didn’t want changes, because he didn’t want the car to get loose. The No. 88 pulled out a great pit stop, picking up one spot and sending Earnhardt back out onto the track in second place. But on the restart, Earnhardt spun his tires and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth passed him. Then with six laps to go, Gordon and Kenseth spun in front of him. Gordon’s No. 24 Chevrolet suffered major damage when it hit the inside retaining wall, forcing NASCAR officials to red-flag the event. Earnhardt restarted in the second position for the green-white-checkered flag finish and held off a hard-charging Greg Biffle to take the runner-up spot to winner Carl Edwards. Earnhardt led 17 laps out of the 267 throughout the day and jumped 13 positions to sit 10th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings. QUOTING EARNHARDT : (EXCERPTS FROM THE POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE): Q. Even though you didn't get the win, do you feel fortunate? Even with the tire spin, you were able to avoid that crash over here and come in second? EARNHARDT: Yeah, really fortunate. I would have talked myself into being satisfied with a top-five finish no matter where it was. After last week, I just needed to get that kind of a finish. But, you know, we worked so hard to get into second, get by Matt (Kenseth). You get so mad. I wanted a shot at Carl, but he was just so strong. And he kind of conceded that fact, you know, with 10 to go. You hate to see the cautions come out because you know guys are going to pull tricks out of their bags. Matt laid back a little bit on that restart when I spun my tires. I should have been laying back. I can't complain about him laying back. I was the one that should have been laying back. Q. Are you comfortable with the Car of Tomorrow now? EARNHARDT: Not really. It's just the third race this year. We ran it some last year, but all at short tracks. We need more time. I think you'll keep getting it better and better the more time you have with it. They need to explore softening the left side tire. Just a tiny bit of left side grip would help out a bunch and keep people from complaining so much. But the car's coming around. I mean, it is what you make of it really. Take it and build it, do the best you can. But I struggled today really getting into the race track. I think that was not the Car of Tomorrow as much as it was how hard the tire is because they're real conservative on the tire. Q. Were restarts a problem for you all day, more than just the ones in the closing laps? EARNHARDT: No, they weren't. I don't know whether the track cooled down quite a bit, or I wasn't doing enough myself to keep my tires ready for those restarts. But I felt like I was. But it was the last three or four that we had the problem. I had a couple great ones the middle of the race. We were running near Matt (Kenseth) for the lead, charged him real hard there, got on the outside of him going into one but couldn't hold it up there. The car was able to get grip on restarts before. Seemed like the temperature went down a little bit, the track temp went down a little bit and it was a little tougher. Q. You used the word "frustrated" a couple times. You seem a little subdued. You just finished second. I would think that would be a big boost for you. EARNHARDT: I'm sorry I'm not happier (laughter). (During those red flags) anxiety just kills you sitting there and sitting there and sitting there. You don't see what's going on with how they're cleaning the track. You don't know how long it's going to take. Yeah, I mean, anxiety just kills you, it kills you. You've been running all day and to have to be parked for 20 minutes, it's all you can stand. It's all you can take. UP NEXT: The No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Chevy next will compete at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 9. The race will air live on FOX at 1:30 p.m., ET.  Photo courtesy of Hendrick Motorsports Thanks to Amy Walsh for the race recap. Courtesy of Hendrick Motorsports. Media Relations | No. 88 AMP Energy / National Guard Racing  |
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