tool name
closeDEI struggles in Chicago
All three cars have problems Sunday
JIM UTTER, jutter@charlotteobserver.com
Sunday, Jul. 15, 2007
JOLIET, Ill. – No worries.
The teams of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Martin Truex Jr. believe their respective bad days in Sunday’s USG Sheetrock 400 were aberrations rather than any indication their recent strong performances have suddenly leveled off.
Late in the race at Chicagoland Speedway, Truex Jr. turned his No. 1 Chevrolet onto pit road with an engine failure while at almost the same moment his Dale Earnhardt Inc. teammate slowed dramatically on the track.
Truex, who started second and ran strong the entire race, ended his day in the garage on Lap 212 of 267 and finished 39th. Earnhardt Jr.’s problem – the loss of power steering – wasn’t fatal but relegated him to a 19th place finish.
“We run good every week, we just have bad luck,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “This is everything you’d want in a team competition-wise. I’ve got no complaints.
“I’m not going to think about (the points) for a week. I’m going to go home and chill out and live a little, get pumped up and charge my batteries a little bit, come back and go after it.
“We’ve got good cars. We’ll be fine.”
Earnhardt Jr. remained 12th in series points – the final spot which qualifies for the Chase for the Nextel Cup – but Ryan Newman is closing fast behind him with six races until the cutoff. Newman finished eighth on Sunday, moving to within 30 points of the 12th position.
Truex, who picked up his first career Nextel Cup victory last month, dropped one position in points to 11th, 57 ahead of Earnhardt Jr.
“We were running second there for a while. A bunch of guys got two tires and we got hung back in traffic but we were getting our car better and we were getting spots one by one and were up to eighth,” Truex said of Sunday’s race.
“It was looking good for us. It’s frustrating.”
Truex’s crew chief, Kevin Manion, sees no reason both teams won’t remain in the hunt for the championship.
“We’re just racing, basically, that guy in 13th. Everyone else is doing the same thing – Dale Junior, us, (Newman) and (Jamie McMurray),” Manion said.
“We’re going back to Pocono where we ran really strong; Michigan, where we ran really strong. I for sure don’t see us falling out (of the Chase). If we keep running the way we have been, we’ll be fine.”
