Dale Junior Fails To Make Chase

NASCAR's most popular driver won't be one of them.

Earnhardt will watch the Chase from the sidelines for the second time in three years, failing to race his way into the event. He ran in the top three late in the race, but his fifth motor failure with just a few laps to go sealed his fate.

He finished 30th, and was clearly dejected as he shared a brief hug with crew chief Tony Eury Jr. The two are leaving Dale Earnhardt Inc. at the end of the season and will join Hendrick Motorsports.

"We've run good every week. We just can't finish races," Earnhardt said. "We love racing. We'll be all right. This is disappointing, these dang motors."

Earnhardt started the race as the only driver mathematically eligible to race into the Chase, but the odds were stacked against him. Kevin Harvick, the driver on the bubble, had to finish 33rd or worse, combined with a flawless Earnhardt run, for Junior to make it.

He knew it long before he arrived in Richmond, and he seemed almost resigned to his fate from the start. It means Earnhardt won't win a championship with DEI, his late father's company.

Although he won two Busch Series championships while his father was still alive, he's never been higher than third in the Cup standings.

Earnhardt was solid at times this season, but the motor failures derailed his efforts.

"We deserved to be in the Chase," he said. "We ran top-five almost every week."

Although the drama was gone, the new format put a premium on wins and drivers went hard for them every week. Although Jeff Gordon dominated the standings all season long, his points lead is gone because Johnson, his teammate, won two more races than he did.

Johnson surged into the top seed by winning last week in California and Saturday night in Richmond to give him a season sweep on the Virginia short track. He said that momentum will be key to winning a second championship.

"Momentum means a lot, it really does," he said. "We've seen that time and time again with different race teams. We're happy to be hitting our stride now and we had a great 26. Now it's about these last 10 and we'll see what we can do."