Was Earnhardt Jr. robbed of Richmond win?

RICHMOND, Va. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. was frustrated that he didn’t bring a top-three car home in at least the top three.

But, hey, he wanted a win. And wanted one bad.

Two years past his last victory, Earnhardt Jr. was turned on lap 398 by Kyle Busch as they battled for the lead between turns 3 and 4 in the Crown Royal 400 Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway.

“He gave me room off the outside of [Turn] 2, so I wouldn’t say that was intentional going into 3,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “Because if he had wanted to, he could have just thrown me in the fence off 2. We had been racing each other earlier and had no problems.

“I have done that before, that is what happens if he got loose underneath me. The worst part about it is that I have been priding myself on running good all year and I was in position for a win. I ran hard and got wrecked.”

With the crash, Earnhardt Jr.’s winless streak extended to 72 races.

“I’m out there trying to win and you saw it tonight, I came in with a wrecked race car and finished 15th,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I could have let Kyle go. He was faster and finished second or third or whatever. But I would have got a lot of bad press for that.

“I was trying to run hard and trying to hold him off and trying to win the race we’ve been trying to win every week.”

While he hasn’t won this year, Earnhardt Jr. is third in points and has a 235-point edge on 13th-place Jeff Gordon with 16 races left before the Chase is determined after the fall race at Richmond.

“I’ll have to find some satisfaction in getting 15th-place points when we should have got in the top three,” said Earnhardt Jr., who didn’t make the Chase last year at Dale Earnhardt Inc. “I hate losing points. I don’t want to be on the bubble or anywhere near that bubble when we come back to Richmond. I want to be solidly in the Chase before we ever come back here.”

Earnhardt Jr. also would like to try to avoid controversy and the media glare for one weekend.

“I’ve been in the media all year, and I’m ready for a break,” said Earnhardt Jr., who raised the ire of Gordon last week for not helping him at Talladega. “I just want to race for a couple of weeks, and it just seems like if I ain’t involved in one thing, I’m involved in another.

“I thought we was going to end the winless streak tonight and celebrate and be happy. We’ll have to keep running good like we are and try somewhere else.”

So what does he do now? Does he go talk to Busch?

“If I want to talk to Kyle, I’ve got to get in line,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I’m sure we will. We’ll probably talk about it. … There was quite a reaction from what happened tonight. It was unfortunate that it had to happen. I don’t know what happened exactly. Maybe I’ll have a better opinion about it some other time.”

Earnhardt Jr. did have an opinion about Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, who stopped on the track and was penalized for intentionally bringing out a caution, which set up the restart that allowed Busch to get to Earnhardt Jr.’s bumper

“Everybody knows the deal on that one,” said Earnhardt Jr., who was once penalized for that infraction. “Everybody knows that’s wrong. Y’all know what to write. I ain’t writing it for you.”

At least Earnhardt Jr. left the track thinking he had the best car at the end of the race.

“We’re running good every week, and this night was a night we should have won and it got took away,” crew chief Tony Eury Jr. said. “I told all these boys to keep their chins up. This isn’t the last time we’ll be going for a win this year, I promise you that.”

By Bob Pockrass - Associate EditorSunday, May 04, 2008