Life on the Road – Trucking News Blog

Richmond, Virginia’s Richmond International Speedway was the scene for the last race before “The chase for the Nextel Cup” begins. Dale Earnhardt Junior Needed a Miracle to happen in order to make “The Chase”. He also needed Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch to finish darn near dead last. The deck was stacked against America’s favorite Driver from the beginning of the race.

Listening to the “In car audio” on Satellite Radio, Dale Junior’s night looked grim from the start. The radio conversations between Dale Junior and his crew chief, Tony Eury Jr. early in the race were all about the handling of the car, or the lack there of. Dale Jr. was heard to say over the radio at one point in the race that, “This Car of Tomorrow is a piece of crap”.

Dale Earnhardt Junior’s “Chase Dreams” Go Up In Smoke.

But as the race wore on the Budweiser Chevy fought to the top five and stayed there until lap 394, when the engine let go and his chances for a “Chase Berth” went up in smoke. Dale Earnhardt Junior was then heard on the radio saying, “Well THAT puts a period on this season right there!”

After the race was over Dale Jr. was interviewed behind his hauler where he said.

“I’m really sad for my fans, but especially for my team. If you knew how hard they have all worked this year, and to run as well as we have, it breaks my heart. We’ve been a top-five car and a top-five team almost every week and yet we struggled with engines that wouldn’t get us to the finish line.

Tonight is just another example of the roller coaster season it’s been. Tony Jr. really worked hard tonight and did a great job making adjustments to the car. We were no better than a 10th-place car for the first half of the race, but he kept hard at it and made adjustment after adjustment and suddenly we were a car that could have won the race. I really felt like if I could have gotten around Tony I think we could have made a run at the lead there in the last laps. But that was great racing. I had so much fun racing those guys so hard and so clean at the end. I hope the fans enjoyed it as much as I did in those last 50 laps because that’s as hard and clean as anyone can race.

“I have a Lot of pride – and I think the whole team has a Lot of pride – in how well we ran and how hard we competed and that’s gonna be the same in the final 10 races. We’re not gonna give up – we’re gonna go out there and have fun and laugh and try to win races. Maybe we’ll be a spoiler in the final races. When that last lap is completed at Homestead (the final race of the year), I want everyone to know we all worked hard and we did all we could to race hard and never gave up. I want to go out (at Dale Earnhardt Inc.) with integrity and that means never letting up.”

So starts a new era in the “Saga of Dale Earnhardt Jr.” There are ten races left in the season and The “8″ team is now truly a lame duck. No “chase berth”, just racing for a win every weekend. Will they win yet this year? I don’t know. History doesn’t dictate it well but you never know.

The Rest of the Race
As for the “Chevy Rock and Roll 400″ itself? Richmond is always a good race as short tracks go. There was a lot of excitement in the air as this was the last race before the chase. Plenty of paint was exchanged and some tempers flared. Even some flames erupted as Juan Pablo Montoya’s Texaco Havoline Dodge Had a run in with the wall. It was a great race and we can all look forward to the next ten races as “The Chase For The Nextel Cup” begins.

Here are your top ten finishers and the twelve drivers that made the “Chase”.

1. Jimmy Johnson
2. Tony Stewart
3. Davis Ragan
4. Jeff Gordon
5. Johnny Sauter
6. Denny Hamlin
7. Kevin Harvick
8. Kasey Kahne
9. Kurt Busch
10. J.J. Yeley

Making the chase.

1. Jimmy Johnson
2. Jeff Gordon
3. Tony Stewart
4. Carl Edwards
5. Kurt Busch
6. Denny Hamlin
7. Matt kenseth
8. Jeff Burton
9. Kyle Busch
10. Martin Truex Jr
11. Kevin Harvick
12. Clint Bowyer

Next week Nascar is at “The New Hampshire International Speedway for the “Sylvania 300″. The first race in the “2007 Race For The Nextel Cup”. It’s a night race with Coverage on ABC starting at 7 P.M. Eastern time.

Keep it safe out there and Go Junior!