Dale Earnhardt Jr. pits dealing with radio issues, gets hit with penalty at Bristol
A big issue for Dale Earnahrdt Jr. as he could not hear his team on the radio from Turn 2 to Turn 4, and that’s bad news. Junior is going to restart in the back of the field after pitting at the first caution flag. The NASCAR Hall of Famer has a tough job ahead.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualified P13. However, he will now go to the back of the field and try and work his way back up. It’s not going to be easy, either. His radio issue turned into a speeding on pit road penalty, making things worse.
Bristol is a tough track. Earnhardt has to avoid wrecks and further issues. But there is enough time to make up track position and come away with a good finish.
Chris Knight of Catchfence with the penalty report.
This all started, more or less, with Cole Custer getting a flat tire. That led to a caution once Custer hit the wall while battling for the lead. Dale Earnhardt Jr. went to pit road to fix his radio. But when leaving he sped on pit road and that did not help things at all.
Last season, it was a fairly smooth race for Earnhardt until his foot started to catch fire. The good news, he has been able to move up through the field just fine. He went from about P35 to P24 until the next caution came out with less than 35 laps to go in the first stage.
The best part, Dale Jr. avoided going a lap down before the next caution came out. All things considered, after watching it play out, Earnhardt didn’t get penalized too badly.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. trying to move up after early trouble
If there is any driver in the field who can drive back up through traffic at Bristol, it’s Dale Earnhardt Jr. He had to go down pit road multiple times to get his new helmet attached to the Hans Device. He can only go so far down as long as he stays on the lead lap.
Now, Dale isn’t the only Earnhardt in the field. His nephew Jeffrey Earnhardt is racing for Sam Hunt Racing. He is running in the top-5 early on in this race. Jeffrey is auditioning for more opportunities while Dale could be hanging it up after this race.
Dale Jr. did manage to fix his radio issues and get back on track without losing a lap. Now he has work to do as he tries to race back up through the field at Bristol.
If you are a Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan this is going to be fun. Junior is going to have a lot of time to make moves but not an infinite amount of time. He doesn’t have 500 laps, only 300 total. If he keeps running strong laps like he has early on in the race then he will have a shot at another great finish.