For Dale Earnhardt Jr., it was refreshing to feel some speed in his No. 88 Chevrolet.
Earnhardt couldn’t match the dominating Chevy of Jimmie Johnson, his Hendrick Motorsports shop mate, but after a lackluster performance last Sunday at Dover, he was glad to post a third-place result in Sunday’s Party in the Poconos 400 at Pocono Raceway.
It was the first top five for Earnhardt since he ran second to Kyle Busch on March 24 at Fontana, Calif.
Arguably, Earnhardt had the second-best car at Pocono, but restarting from the inside lane with four laps left hurt his chances of holding the runner-up position.
“We’ve been running good all year–just have had some troubles,” Earnhardt said after the race. “…Excited to be able to run well. We had a good car all weekend–glad we could get a good finish.
“Jimmie was faster in Turn 3, much faster. That’s where you have to be good. That’s where he was good. We’ve got to gain a little bit there. We know some things we can try to get better before we come back (Aug. 4).”
Earnhardt has never won a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono, but he has scored four top 10s in his last five starts at the Tricky Triangle.
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