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Junior literally can't put No. 8 behind him
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With the NASCAR Sprint Cup season now nearly a quarter of the way complete, the result of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s move to Hendrick Motorsports has been mostly a success.
Johnson gets 1st ’08 win for Hendrick, 2nd straight at PIR
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Through eight of the series' 36 races, the sport's most popular driver has six top-10 finishes and is third in the standings, 86 points behind leader Jeff Burton.
But one of Earnhardt's main objectives, finding his way to Victory Lane, remains elusive.
While the new partnership couldn't have started better with Earnhardt winning the Budweiser Shootout, the non-points race the week before the Daytona 500, his checkered flag drought in points races is closing in on two years. Earnhardt's last victory in a race which counted was May 2006 at Richmond.
On Saturday in the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, Earnhardt was in excellent position to change that, but he was unable to escape his past, both figuratively and literally.
After starting the race 13th, Earnhardt took the lead on lap 201. For many of the next 71 laps, he had to stare at Mark Martin, running second driving the No. 8 car Earnhardt made iconic, in his rearview mirror.
On lap 272 Martin overtook him for the lead when wear on the tires of the No. 88 car became an issue. After falling behind, Earnhardt wasn't a serious threat again.
"The tires were gone, and we sort of lost a little bit then," he said.
By lap 279, Earnhardt was fourth. He got back up as high as third but even a pit stop on lap 301 for two new tires couldn't help his position. He ended the race seventh.
One of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate said he believes Junior is getting close to winning.
"I though this could be the race for him," said Jimmie Johnson, who made a late charge to win his second straight Cup race at PIR.
"I knew he was going to be a factor today. He's going to be pulling into Victory Lane soon."
That's a statement which couldn't be made last year when Earnhardt and his DEI team struggled. In 2007, he missed the Chase for the Cup, came in better than fifth in only three races and had an average finish of 18.6.
This season he has finished ninth, 40th, second, third, fifth, sixth, 12th and seventh, giving him an average finish of 10.5.
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