Great for Labonte.
I was a "non-believer" when they restarted - DJ's position.
His car looked really tore up, figured he would be at least one lap down. Somebody, pit crew, needs a pay raise! Wow
And Jr - no tires! Cool. He needed that.
He got left out in left field when trying to get on pit road...how did he say that in the interview..."they were juking and..??...and I got left out.."
The ticker skipped a beat when he wiggled coming to the checker....Robot wiggled right behind him...
Great finish for those guys.
I absolutely could not believe my eyes when I saw those two in 11th and 12th place. Wow!!
Dale Jr. Quotes: “That was like old times racing Matt (Kenseth) there. He's a good friend and I love racing with him like that. We don't get to do it as much now as we did in the Busch Series, but it was fun out there to race hard with him.”
On the decision not to pit with 20 laps to go, while running third: “I was thinking 'surely we're not gonna pit,' so I pulled way up the track trying to be like 'yo! Everybody! No! Up here! Don't pit!' (laughing) And they just went on (to pit lane) and I wasn't in any position to go to pit road. I would have tore the left front off the car if I'd have pulled off the track at that angle. So, I was sitting there going 'Wellll… I guess I'm gonna have to do this by myself.' I wished I had fresh tires. I wanted to get tires if the leaders got tires. It was a long race and the duration of the race might have affected my decision-making there. I obviously wasn't as good as Jimmie (Johnson) and Tony (Stewart) and I didn't think I'd be able to hold 'em off. I hadn't anticipated holding them off - I wanted to finish fourth or better.”
Best Radio Chatter:
The Bud car was very quick on each restart throughout the race, but was especially impressive when restarting in second place behind Tony Stewart on lap 178. Dale Jr. passed Stewart and then pulled away easily on the first green-flag lap after the restart.
Dale Jr. (excited): “It'll GO on the restarts!
Tony Eury Jr. (crew chief): “Yeah, that was a FAST lap!”
Dale Jr.: “I'll back it off a bit. I just wanted to show you what it could do.”
Eury Jr: “You were one second quicker than the third-place car.”
Dale Jr.: “I can do it flat out for about five laps, but it really hurts the right front tire. I'll back off.”
Eury Jr.: “10-4. Run that pace and you'll be just fine.”
The event sponsor - for no apparent reason - flew their hot air balloon directly over the front stretch during the race, which proved to be a huge distraction for the drivers.
Dale Jr. (on lap 232, during green flag action): “Someone get that hot air balloon outta here! It's annoying!”
Today's Stats
Started: 6th
Finished: 3rd
Led: 95 laps (most laps the team has led in any race this year.)
Points: 4th place (gained two positions, -84 points behind leader)
Best Pit Stop: Stop 6 of 6 / lap 293 / 12.67 seconds / 4 tires and fuel
Chase for the Cup -- Unofficial Points
(Race seven of 10)
1.) Matt Kenseth 6008 pts.
2.) Jimmie Johnson -26 pts.
3.) Denny Hamlin -65
4.) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -84
4.) Jeff Burton -84
6.) Kevin Harvick -121
7.) Jeff Gordon -146
8.) Mark Martin -201
9.) Kasey Kahne -210
10.) Kyle Busch -249