Earnhardt’s bubble gets burst at Martinsville

RIDGEWAY, VA - APRIL 07: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet, and Danica Patrick, driver of the #10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, are involved in an incident during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series STP Gas Booster 500 on April 7, 2013 at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia. (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)
RIDGEWAY, VA - APRIL 07:  Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet, and Danica Patrick, driver of the #10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, are involved in an incident during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series STP Gas Booster 500 on April 7, 2013 at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia.  (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)
RIDGEWAY, VA – APRIL 07: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet, and Danica Patrick, driver of the #10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, are involved in an incident during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series STP Gas Booster 500 on April 7, 2013 at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia. (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)

A great start to the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup season that had Dale Earnhardt Jr. on top of the point standings came to an end Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. After three top five and two top ten finishes Earnhardt suffered his worst finish of the season coming home 24.

The day started on a high note for Earnhardt. After starting 17, Earnhardt was able to wheel his Hendrick Motorsports Chevy into the top 10. On lap 180 he avoided potential disaster. On a restart after a caution period Earnhardt in tenth checked up to avoid teammate Kasey Kahne. The result set off a melee that involved ten cars.  Earnhardt’s Chevy suffered only minimal damage and the crew was able to make quick repairs.

Earnhardt was able to recover and by lap 308 of the 500 circuits he was inside the top five in fourth. MORE>>>

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.