Dale Jr. says Richmond "is the way we should have run all year"

The statistics show that Earnhardt finished 13th and led a season-high 13 laps in Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 – not exactly a dominating performance.

But a strategic pit call put Earnhardt out front late in the race and if he had caught a caution at the right time, he could have well been in the mix for the win and a berth in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

“That was the only way we were going to win the race. We weren’t going to pass the top three guys,” Earnhardt said after the race. “I mean we had speed, we could run up to fifth and sixth, but we weren’t going to get around those five guys running in front of us. 

“So, we had to pull that strategy and if the caution comes out while we are leading, then we’ve got that track position we need.”

The win didn’t materialize but the performance helped energize Earnhardt, who plans to retire from full-time NASCAR competition at season’s end.

“The guys stepped up, every one of them, were more vocal and worked really hard. We had a great car,” Earnhardt said. “That is the way we should have run all year. So, apologize to our fans that we are even in this situation that we are in.

“We believe in ourselves and we should have been locked in before we got here, but it wasn’t a great season performance-wise, but we’ve got 10 to go. Tonight showed us that we can certainly run well if we work hard.”

Earnhardt’s last victory came on Nov. 15, 2015 and while he made a complete recovery from the concussion symptoms that sidelined him for half a season last year, his final NASCAR season has not gone as well as he hoped.

In 26 races, he has one top-five and four top-10 finishes and won one pole (Daytona in July). He is 22nd in the series standings and since he failed to advance to the playoffs, he will be unable to finish better than 17th in points this year.

But there is still reason to continue to compete – the same reason he had when he first began his racing career. To win.

“We will keep plugging away and see if we can’t have some fun before the end of the season,” Earnhardt said. “It was a fun night, though.

“It was great to run with the leaders, run up front, we haven’t done that in a long time.”