It's a safe thing to say that Jr Nation is quite happy with their driver's 3rd place finish today in the first race of the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup. After qualifying 19th on Friday, I'm sure that some Dale Jr haters were gleeful in thinking that Dale was going to continue running mid pack for the Chase but he managed to prove them wrong.
Dale started out the race fighting his car and staying in the middle of the pack, really getting no higher than 13th, until his last pit stop where he pitted just for fuel. From then on, while on older tires, Dale managed to pick 'em up and knock 'em down. He moved from 14th position to 8th with 10 laps to go. Once he was there, Steve Letarte asked him to conserve fuel to be safe but to keep ahead of the 27 car of Paul Menard. Dale was able to do that while still maintaining his position.
Then with three laps to go, Dale got the go ahead from Letarte to go for it and he did. It was also around that time that cars starting running of of fuel on the track. First was Kyle Busch who ran out of fuel with two laps to go. Tony Stewart then took the white flag and then the rest of the top 10 started running out of fuel, Matt Kenseth Jeff Gordon & Jimmie Johnson; this allowed for Dale to make a serious run and wind up with a 3rd place finish.
All in all it was a good day for the 88 team. Dale Jr finished 3rd in the 1st race of the Chase and has gone from 9th in the points to 5th. Now onto Loudon!
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