Earnhardt Jr., Johnson, Mears Struggle During Early Laps of Bristol's Sharpie 500

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Halfway through Saturday night's Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, three of four Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets were nowhere near the lead as Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, and Casey Mears all had suffered early trouble.

Jeff Gordon, meanwhile, was managing to hang on to the Top 5.

Earnhardt Jr. started the struggles for Hendrick on Friday by qualifying his No. 88 40th in the 43 car field. On the start of the 500 lap event, Earnhardt Jr. drew a penalty for jumping the start, though his move of driving around cars on the outside on any subsequent restarts is allowed.

By lap 250, Earnhardt Jr. was still one lap down in 22nd.

Johnson had trouble just a few laps later after contact with another car along the straightaway slammed the side of the No. 48 into the wall. NASCAR opted not to throw a caution and Johnson ended up 13 laps down before he returned to the track with repairs to the front and rear of his Chevrolet.

He has since fell to 15 laps down, though he moved up to 34th after a multi-car crash midway through the race.

Casey Mears was the primary cause of that multi-car crash in his No. 5 Chevrolet. Mears cut off Michael Waltrip coming off the corner, setting off a wreck that took out those two, Clint Bowyer, Robby Gordon, and Kasey Kahne.

It was the second time in 2008 that Mears and Waltrip had tangled coming off the corner (remember Richmond in May when Waltrip went bezerk-o on Mears?) though this time Mears blamed the incident on his spotter.

On a replay on ESPN, Mears' case was confirmed as his spotter clearly said "Clear" when Mears wasn't, causing the wreck when Mears moved up the track.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

8-24-2008 @ 12:08PM

Andra said...

You go Carl, Kyle can be beat. Waiting to see the RIVAL in the next few races. The finger counting at the Truck Race for his 9th win was uncall for. That made me dislike him even more. Come on all you NASCAR DRIVERS show him ( KYLE ) he can be beaten. Waiting for TALLADEGA.

8-24-2008 @ 8:35PM

anna seitter said...

HOW IS THAT A DEJ & JJ + SMEARS FILE, TURNED IN TO A
KYLE BUSH BASH FILE ?
Kyle bush is beating records and making history in all series of racing, in all type of tracks and has the racing nation talking about his qualityes.
CARL EDWARDS IS JUST ANOTHER TEMPORARY FLASH.

8-25-2008 @ 10:58AM

John said...

No. 2
Probably the same way you took a file on 'Edwards bumps busch' and turned it into talking about Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and bashing Tony Eury Jr.

And sorry but Kyle is starting to hear footsteps and guess who it is, that's right Cousin Carl and if not for an earlier penalty this year would really be breathing down Kyle's back.

8-25-2008 @ 2:51PM

phil magroin said...

yea horse face (mr. ed) you better walk backwards to pick up that trophy...lmao !!

8-25-2008 @ 8:42PM

NO JOHN, NOT THE SAME WAY I SUPPOSE I CHANGED THE subject like you are implying. I was replying to another poster in that same file. GO CHECK, YOU'LL SEE.
HERE ON THIS FILE # 1 was not replying to any other poster, it was just a defferent subject expressions, and it's NOT BIG DEAL ANYWAY. It happens all the time on these pages and even on other various blogs.
About carl edwards, well,keep your hopes high. KYLE BUSH will eventually lower them. CIAO, CIAO.

8-26-2008 @ 11:01AM

Wrong Anna,

You were the first in that file to mention Steve Letarte and Tony Eury Jr., no one had talked about them until you did, it doesn't matter if you think in responding to someone else's comments it's ok to trash talk about someone else, it's still taking a file about a certain subject and then talking about something totally different just like your accusing someone else of doing.
And if the last 4 races are how Kyle is going to lower my hopes for Carl then I hope he goes lower, momentum going into the chase is the best thing to have no matter how many wins you have. The only thing lowered so far was the BOOM that Carl lowered on Kyle with his bumper at Bristol.

8-26-2008 @ 12:26PM

Don Emerson said...

Jr was penalized at the start of the race because it is against the rules to pass like that. On restarts, it is legal to pass like that, so he violated no rules, thus no penalty. He knew better, it was a dumb rookie mistake. Works for me.....

8-26-2008 @ 5:38PM

YES JOHN, I WAS THE FIRST in that file to mention steve letargy and tony fury BUT I WAS NOT THE FIRST TO MENTION JGORDON AND TONY STEWART. check blog #3.
Anyway, SO WHAT? I already said:IT'S NOT BIG DEAL; it happens all the time posters change ther subject and at times so do i. AGAIN: what's the big deal? who really cares? IT may
amplefy the window of a conversation sometimes, so kudos to
whoever expandes the subject. NO ARM, NO ILL.
have a great day. works for me.....

aloha john

8-27-2008 @ 9:06AM

Kim said...

Not a race to enjoy if you are a Hendrick Motor Sports fan. Other than Jeff Gordon finally having a good race, the rest of the team just sucked!

Hey Don, did you steal my "rookie" mistake comment from the other file? Ah, it's okay. As I also stated and agree, Jr. shouldn't be penalized for the mishap at the start of the race. Although it was not a "legal" move, I don't believe it was intentional nor do I believe it was "cheating" in any way as some others have suggested. It was however a rookie mistake, one that a driver of Jr.'s calibar should know better than to have committed. He is definitely hungry for more wins and good for him. The disappointing thing about it was the way he took off at the start of the race, all the cars he passed instantly, it looked like he had a great car. Unfortunately after being penalized, he was ubable to make it back through the field as a contender.

As for Johnson.....I was sick! As a fan of his, I can't figure out why the guy can't drive at Bristol. It seems to be the one track Jimmie just can't figure out. During the race the commentators said Chad Knaus made a statement...."My driver can't drive here and I can't set a car up here." As a fan of theirs, I thought that was just a poor attitude to have. You would think if this was the case, you would want to work even harder to set the car up better and pump up your driver to try to "beat" the one track you haven't had success with. Oh well, I didn't understand his comments, don't agree with them, and think the attitude sucked!

As for Mears.....well, that was a spotter mistake and the spotter should be FIRED. What a disaster. That wreck took out a lot of good drivers, especially Kahne who has had a good year thus far. I felt bad for Kasey. As for Clint Bowyer's comments...Priceless! "Michael Waltrip is the worst driver in NASCAR." Poor Mikey, he gets blamed even when it wasn't his fault. It's a shame the comment is right on though. Mikey needs to quit driving and just focus on being an owner, IMO.

Kim