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Dale Jr.'s final WGI race ends early: “It has been a difficult year"

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said Saturday he hoped there would be some memorable moments in his final full-time NASCAR season to smile about but Sunday was not one of them.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Rusty Jarrett / NKP / Motorsport Images

Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Earnhardt completed just 22 of 90 laps in Sunday’s I Love New York 355 at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International before he was forced to take his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to the garage with a broken valve train.

A strong run at the road course at Sonoma (Calif.) in June had given Earnhardt confidence his final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at the Glen could be a good one. However, he struggled in Saturday’s practices and qualified just 28th-fastest on Sunday afternoon.

“We changed this car inside and out twice this weekend. And, we had made it better and we were kind of hanging in there,” he said. “I think we had a shot at maybe a top 20 at best. But man, we showed up and we were about four seconds off.

“I don’t know. It’s been a little frustrating this weekend. This doesn’t make it much better.”

Sunday was the seventh time this season Earnhardt has failed to finish a race and the ninth time he’s finished 30th or worse. He is 23rd in the series standings and won’t qualify for the playoffs without a victory in the next four races.

With each passing race, it appears less likely Earnhardt may visit Victory Lane in his final Cup season.

Faced with his run of adversity this season, Earnhardt was asked how he stays upbeat moving forward.

He said it would require a group effort.

“You get all the guys together and you ask everybody if they are in and if they are ready to push hard the rest of the season and stay motivated and stay plugged in. These guys are,” Earnhardt said of his team. “But we have to hold each other up and lift each other up when it gets difficult like this.

“We’re a pretty close group. I don’t anticipate the challenges and adversity we are facing to be detrimental to our team going forward. We have to be able to deal with stuff like this. This is racing and you are going to have to go through these kind of days.

“It has been a difficult year, but I’ve have more challenging times for sure. I still feel like we will have some things to be proud of before the end of the season. It is just not going to be this weekend.”

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