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[h=2]Earnhardt upbeat despite Martinsville frustration[/h] Sunday, 02 April 2017






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Dale Earnhardt Jr. had an upbeat attitude Sunday afternoon even after he failed to finish the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
A busted radiator in the No. 88 Chevrolet sent Earnhardt to the garage on lap 418 of the 500-mile event. Earnhardt had run into the back of his teammate Kasey Kahne in a classic case of the short track accordion effect. The accident started when Denny Hamlin got into Danica Patrick going into Turn 3, sending the No. 10 Ford spinning.
"They just stopped and I couldn't," Earnhardt said. "I got into the back of (Kahne). His bumper knocked the top of the radiator off of it, knocked the fitting off the top of the radiator.









"We don't have much of a bumper on there to begin with keeping the cars as light as we can and that is about the second or third time I've knocked the top off the radiator here. I wish they were a little tougher than that, so we could beat and bang and keep going."
Earnhardt finished 34th.
As for being in the middle of the mess, Earnhardt took the blame after being sent to the rear because a speeding penalty just a few laps prior.
"Well as far as what I see on my dash I wasn't speeding, but they have better technology than we do," Earnhardt said. "They said it was in the segment out of my pit box. Hell, I must have got out of there pretty damn good. I don't know what to do about that."
Through six races Earnhardt and crew chief Greg Ives have led just eight laps and failed to score a top-10 finish. He is now 25th in points and does not have any additional playoff points courtesy of a stage win.
Perhaps Earnhardt's enthusiasm came from how well he was running After starting 21st, Earnhardt was solidly running inside the top 10 when he was spun by Ryan Blaney on Lap 125. Staying on the lead lap, it didn't take Earnhardt long to drive back into contention before things went south.
"I was really happy with the way the car was running," Earnhardt said. "We were fast all day. They said I sped on pit road – hard to believe that, but it is what it is.
"We got back there in the back and got mixed up in something and it's going to give us a bad finish, but we were having a great time – had a fast car."