Dale Earnhardt Jr. says ‘It ain’t over’

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said he lost count of how many times he hit the wall in Sunday’s Bank of America 500.

The first brush with the SAFER barrier came on Lap 69, after contact from Carl Edwards’ Toyota. Earnhardt later hit the wall when his No. 88 Chevrolet slid through fluid in the top groove.

Ultimately, Earnhardt finished 28th, four laps down, and left Charlotte in 11th place in the standings, 19 points out of the last transfer position to the next round of the Chase, currently held by eighth-place Brad Keselowski.

“We tried everything we could to get laps back, because we had a good enough car to run in the top 20,” Earnhardt said. “Even after smashing it into the fence after all them times, we still had okay speed; but we just couldn’t get an opportunity to get those laps back. Other guys had trouble. And it ain’t over. Don’t worry about that.

“I mean, we don’t have to go to Talladega (Oct. 25) and be nervous like those guys that are going to have to play it safe. We can just go hard. So, we’ve got a great car that can win that race. We can go to Kansas (next Sunday) and run great. I like that track and don’t see why we can’t run great there and maybe win the race there. It ain’t over.”