Pre-Race Favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. Crashed Early in Talladega

After repairing “Amelia,” from Daytona, the famed restrictor-plate car for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was again trashed in the first 50 laps on Sunday in Talladega.

It was on Lap 50, that Earnhardt lost control of his No. 88 Chevrolet on the backstretch, triggering a three car incident, including Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne and BK Racing driver Matt DiBenedetto.

After qualifying on third Saturday, Earnhardt spent most of the first stint of the event following teammate Chase Elliott who started from the pole.

“I think trying to put the nose in-between the No. 19 car and the No. 14 car there was a lot of air coming off both of those cars,” Earnhardt said of the crash. “We were real tight. The splitter was on the ground real bad the whole first run and we took some rounds off and it made it way too loose off the corners.”

The defending winner of Talladega will likely finish 38th or worse, depending on if he can get back out on track.

Dustin Albino