Dale Earnhardt Jr. makes own adjustments to secure second
While Dale Earnhardt Jr. may not have had the best car in the field during Sunday's rain-shortened Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway, the Hendrick Motorsports driver was able to work on the No. 88 Chevrolet throughout the race a secure a second-place finish.
Starting from the 14th spot, Earnhardt explained his team needs to do a better job in qualifying efforts, but he didn't let a mid-pack starting spot ruin his day. With a stronger car on the longer runs, Earnhardt was able to utilize the in-car track bar adjuster to help bring his car to life and rectify the handling issues.
While Kurt Busch and Martin Truex Jr. were able to initially take off better on the restarts, the No. 88 Chevy would come on strong as the run went on.
When NASCAR officially called the race for rain after 138 laps, Earnhardt was sitting second behind Busch for his eighth top-five finish of the 2015 season.
After the race, Earnhardt said without the in-car track bar adjuster, Sunday's results would have been much different. This is the first season drivers have been able to adjust the track bar themselves from inside the car while in the middle of a run.
"I was working the track bar and passing a lot of guys," he said. "I probably couldn't have passed all the cars without the track bar adjusting. The track bar adjuster helped me today get around a lot of guys."
Recording his fourth top-three finish since locking himself into the Chase with a victory at Talladega Superspeedway, Earnhardt said scoring wins is more important than finishing up front when it comes to preparing for the final 10 races that will determine the championship.
"Trying to be as consistent as you can and finish as well as you can can kind of mask some of your weaknesses, I guess," said Earnhardt. "You can forget that you need to work. Everybody is trying to catch you.
"I just ain't going to worry about it. We've always done well during the first 26 races and never done well in the Chase, so I'm just concentrating on the Chase now that we're locked in. We go to win these races, we don't win them, it doesn't really matter to me where we finish just as long as we've got fast cars and we're understanding how to get better."
