Dale Earnhardt Jr. has flat tire while leading at Kansas and hits the wall
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. was cruising along in the lead at Kansas Speedway until his right front tire didn’t cooperate.
Junior was in first at lap 122 when he hit the wall in turns three and four.
“We hadn’t had any tire wear,” Junior said. “We didn’t wear the inside edge out down to the cords and pop a tire, the tread just came off”
Junior hit the wall so hard that the right side of his car was pancaked. He was forced to come to the garage where the team spent many laps making repairs. His tire incident was less than 40 laps after teammate Jimmie Johnson was hit and slid down the backstretch. He said he had no warning of any impending tire issues at all.
“My car was good, it was turning,” Junior said. “Really wasn’t running that hard, the tire just went flat.”
Like Johnson, Junior’s crew fixed his car and got him back on the track. But by the time he rejoined the race he was well out of contention. Both Hendrick drivers are now going to be at the bottom of the Chase standings after Junior was 39th and Johnson finished 40th.
“Points, they hurt,” Junior said. “It is what it is. We’ll just have to go to the next race and try to win.”
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
