Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Returns To Talladega Victory Lane

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. raced to his first Talladega victory since 2004 and punched his ticket into the field for the Chase for the Sprint Cup in a commanding performance in Sunday’s Geico 500.

Earnhardt, Jr. led the final 27 laps and held off his teammate Jimmie Johnson for his first win of the season and 24th of his career.

Paul Menard was third, followed by rookie Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex, Jr.

Earnhardt’s victory was his sixth-career victory at Talladega, just four shy of his father, the late seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt, Sr., who owns 10 victories at the 2.666-mile facility, including his last victory in 2000.

Last Wednesday would have been Earnhardt, Sr.’s 64th birthday.

“Just real emotional, man,” said Earnhardt, Jr. in victory lane. “It has been a long time since I won here. I’ve run so good here, and not to win here in so many races has bothered me.

“It was my daddy’s birthday a couple of days ago. It made me think about his birthday, how much I miss him, how much he meant to me and so many more people. I love when we go to victory lane here because I feel like I add to his legacy. All I ever want to do is make him proud. I feel like when we win at those tracks where he was successful, that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

Earnhardt, Jr.’s victory bumped him up three spots up to fifth in the points standings and locks him into the Chase field.

“It was bugging me that we weren’t winning races,” said Earnhardt, Jr. “Now we are locked in that Chase, we can call these races so different now so maybe there will be more wins.”

“Everything is just so good for me now. My personal life. My racing. The team I am with. I don’t know why. I don’t feel like I deserve it. I just feel overcome with a lot of emotion.”

Hendrick Motorsports horsepower ruled the day as the Hendrick quartet of Earnhardt, Jr., Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne combined to lead 167 of the 188 lap distance.

Gordon led from the pole in his second-to-last scheduled Talladega start and led the opening three laps before Kahne took over the top spot. It was just another five laps before Earnhardt, Jr. was out in front and then back to Gordon. All told, Gordon, Earnhardt, Jr. Kahne and Johnson would lead 42 of the opening 48 laps.

Kahne’s bid for his first career Talladega victory ended when the first multi-car crash of the day broke out on lap 48 when Trevor Bayne broke loose coming out of turn two, touching off a 14-car pileup that collected Kahne, points leader Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Kyle Larson and David Ragan, among others.

Back under green, the battle up front continued with Earnhardt, Jr., Johnson and Gordon trading the lead, with Denny Hamlin throwing himself into the mix as well.

With 33 laps to go, Earnhardt, Jr. brought the leaders to pit road for their final pit stops of the day and won the race off pit road just moments before Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet went up in flames to bring out the sixth and final caution of the day.

On the restart, Earnhardt, Jr. was back out front trailed by Johnson, Brad Keselowski and Blaney.

The two teammates would race nose to tail over the final 27 laps in a single-file pack with Johnson looking for an opening. As they came around the backstretch on the white flag lap, Carl Edwards got turned off the bumper off Casey Mears, triggering another wreck that collected Mears, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and Gordon.

With the wreck behind well behind the leaders, NASCAR held the caution flag and Earnhardt, Jr. led Johnson back around into turn three, where Johnson looked inside as Earnhardt, Jr. drifted high. Earnhardt, Jr. quickly came back down to block and stayed ahead of Johnson to beat his teammate to the line by two car lengths.

Johnson, who hasn’t won at Talladega since 2011, collected his fourth straight top-five finish and managed to move up a spot in the points standings.

“I was definitely going to try taking the white (flag),” said Johnson. “My plan was into turn 3 to back up and try to get a run onto the front stretch. We just had such a small group there was very little energy to create a run and to try to get the No. 88 (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.) and he had a really fast car. I wasn’t going to be able to go up there and just take it away from him.”

Truex, Jr.’s fifth-place finish marked his first top-five finish in his last four races, helping him slide up to second in the points standings, 40 points back of Harvick.

“We took a shot there on the last lap and had a great run going. I felt like we had a shot at it there,” said Truex, Jr. “The No. 88 (Earnhardt, Jr.) and No. 48 (Johnson) were super strong all day long. That was no surprise that they were up there. Nobody could really pass them, but everybody at Talladega is happy, so it’s all good. All-in-all we had a good day.”

Joey Logano limped home 33rd after getting caught up in “The Big One” on lap 48 and slipped two positions in the points standing to fourth behind Johnson.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Talladega Superspeedway – Talladega, AL
GEICO 500 – May 3, 2015

1. (4) Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Chevrolet, 188, $306065.
2. (5) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 188, $256121.
3. (7) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 188, $190060.
4. (3) Ryan Blaney(i), Ford, 188, $148385.
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6. (12) Sam Hornish, Jr., Ford, 188, $156715.
7. (18) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 188, $151670.
8. (24) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 188, $168570.
9. (17) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 188, $127645.
10. (34) Josh Wise, Ford, 188, $111070.
11. (27) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 188, $138701.
12. (19) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 188, $127435.
13. (41) Cole Whitt, Ford, 188, $125618.
14. (42) J.J. Yeley(i), Toyota, 188, $121993.
15. (28) Aric Almirola, Ford, 188, $142146.
16. (37) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 188, $117918.
17. (31) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 188, $128518.
18. (43) Matt DiBenedetto #, Toyota, 188, $109157.
19. (6) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 188, $128724.
20. (39) David Gilliland, Ford, 188, $108710.
21. (25) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 188, $107435.
22. (15) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 188, $143851.
23. (35) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 188, $106110.
24. (38) Chris Buescher(i), Ford, 188, $94185.
25. (8) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 188, $133721.
26. (29) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Ford, 188, $104085.
27. (32) Bobby Labonte, Ford, 188, $95435.
28. (11) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 188, $102885.
29. (40) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 188, $91685.
30. (10) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 188, $128643.
31. (1) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 188, $145871.
32. (22) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 188, $97685.
33. (21) Joey Logano, Ford, 186, $138268.
34. (2) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 158, $109435.
35. (14) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, Engine, 157, $127721.
36. (23) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 151, $117874.
37. (20) Greg Biffle, Ford, 147, $121469.
38. (9) David Ragan, Toyota, 123, $129515.
39. (30) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 91, $80465.
40. (33) Brendan Gaughan(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 90, $76465.
41. (26) Trevor Bayne, Ford, Accident, 46, $117040.
42. (13) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, Accident, 46, $96373.
43. (16) Brian Scott(i), Chevrolet, Engine, 18, $64965.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 159.487 mph.

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 08 Mins, 08 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.158 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 6 for 23 laps.

Lead Changes: 27 among 15 drivers.

Lap Leaders: J. Gordon 1-3; K. Kahne 4-6; T. Stewart 7-11; D. Earnhardt Jr. 12-15; J. Gordon 16-19; K. Harvick 20; J. Allgaier 21; B. Labonte 22; J. Gordon 23-48; K. Busch 49; J. Johnson 50-91; D. Gilliland 92; J. Wise 93; J. Gordon 94-95; J. Johnson 96-103; D. Earnhardt Jr. 104; D. Hamlin 105-106; D. Earnhardt Jr. 107-110; J. Gordon 111-115; C. Mears 116; J. Gordon 117-123; D. Earnhardt Jr. 124-147; T. Stewart 148; D. Earnhardt Jr. 149-155; D. Hamlin 156-158; R. Stenhouse Jr. 159; C. Whitt 160-161; D. Earnhardt Jr. 162-188.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): D. Earnhardt Jr. 6 times for 67 laps; J. Johnson 2 times for 50 laps; J. Gordon 6 times for 47 laps; T. Stewart 2 times for 6 laps; D. Hamlin 2 times for 5 laps; K. Kahne 1 time for 3 laps; C. Whitt 1 time for 2 laps; D. Gilliland 1 time for 1 lap; K. Harvick 1 time for 1 lap; K. Busch 1 time for 1 lap; C. Mears 1 time for 1 lap; R. Stenhouse Jr. 1 time for 1 lap; J. Allgaier 1 time for 1 lap; B. Labonte 1 time for 1 lap; J. Wise 1 time for 1 lap.

Top 16 in Points: K. Harvick – 394; M. Truex Jr. – 354; J. Johnson – 342; J. Logano – 335; D. Earnhardt Jr. – 319; B. Keselowski – 305; J. Mcmurray – 297; M. Kenseth – 292; K. Kahne – 286; D. Hamlin – 281; P. Menard – 280; A. Almirola – 279; J. Gordon – 277; R. Newman – 271; K. Busch – 255; D. Patrick – 253.