At Indianapolis a few hours earlier, J.R. Hildebrand came within a few hundred feet of winning the Indy 500 when he crashed hard when exiting Turn 4. At Charlotte Motor Speedway that same afternoon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was about to win the Coca-Cola 600 when he ran out of gas in the last corner…
After Jimmie Johnson blew up his engine on lap 395 of 402, bringing a full course yellow, Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 Chevrolet was perfectly aware that he might not have enough fuel to make it to the end of the race.
Junior was leading on the final with a comfortable lead only to indeed run out of gas in sight of the checkered flag, breaking the hearts of fans who were certain until the last moment that Earnhardt Jr. was about to break a 104-race drought.
Kevin Harvick, behind the wheel of the No. 29 Chevrolet and a driver who wasn't a factor for 600 miles, inherited the win.
David Ragan posted a solid runner-up finish ahead of Joey Logano who went down a lap during a long, early green-flag run but made it to the finish line after using two free passes to get back on the lead lap.
Early in the race, Matt Kenseth led 101 laps before coming to the pits under caution on lap 233.
Divergent pit strategies under that yellow scrambled the field and mired Kenseth and Carl Edwards in traffic for a restart on lap 245.
Following another yellow, Kyle Busch led the field to a restart on lap 302, but he chose to pit under caution a few laps later.
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| Matt Kenseth (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR) |
After Jimmie Johnson blew up his engine on lap 395 of 402, bringing a full course yellow, Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 Chevrolet was perfectly aware that he might not have enough fuel to make it to the end of the race.
Junior was leading on the final with a comfortable lead only to indeed run out of gas in sight of the checkered flag, breaking the hearts of fans who were certain until the last moment that Earnhardt Jr. was about to break a 104-race drought.
Kevin Harvick, behind the wheel of the No. 29 Chevrolet and a driver who wasn't a factor for 600 miles, inherited the win.
 |
| Jimmie Johnson (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR) |
David Ragan posted a solid runner-up finish ahead of Joey Logano who went down a lap during a long, early green-flag run but made it to the finish line after using two free passes to get back on the lead lap.
Early in the race, Matt Kenseth led 101 laps before coming to the pits under caution on lap 233.
Divergent pit strategies under that yellow scrambled the field and mired Kenseth and Carl Edwards in traffic for a restart on lap 245.
Following another yellow, Kyle Busch led the field to a restart on lap 302, but he chose to pit under caution a few laps later.