JOLIET, Ill. -- The roar from the crowd told the story after Sunday's NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway: Dale Earnhardt Jr. is back.
The fan favorite finally appears to have broken out of a nearly season-long slump.
A sellout crowd of about 100,000 at the suburban Chicago track was howling its approval as the jubilant Earnhardt celebrated his first win of the season by smoking the tires of his No. 8 Chevrolet and hugging crew members in the infield grass.
"I was worried I was going to go winless this year," the relieved Earnhardt said after taking the 16th victory of his career and his first since last November in Phoenix. "Now, let's go out and do it again, win some more."
To get this win, Earnhardt and his team had to beat dominating Matt Kenseth with late-race strategy. Kenseth led 176 of the 267 laps on the 1½-mile oval, but wound up second after choosing to change four tires and falling behind on his final pit stop in the USG Sheetrock 400.
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| Dale Earnhardt Jr. hoists the trophy after his first win of the year. (AP) |
But this turned out to be Junior's day.
Since opening the season with a third-place finish in the Daytona 500, Earnhardt has had a mostly miserable season and little to smile about until he turned in a third-place effort last week in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona. He started 25th on Sunday and spent most of the day hovering near the back of the top 10.
On lap 216, during a caution period, Earnhardt's crew made a lightning fast, four-tire stop, moving their driver from eighth to third, just behind Kenseth and Stewart.
He fell to fourth after the restart, losing a spot to Greg Biffle. But, when the last of 10 caution flags waved on lap 249 after Mike Bliss and Jeff Gordon crashed, all the leaders got a last chance to pit on a day when right-side tires were blistering and causing numerous blowouts and crashes.
Scott Wimmer stayed on the track and took the lead, while Earnhardt and several other drivers took only two tires and moved ahead of both Kenseth and Tony Stewart, who took the time to put on four tires after coming into the pits first and second.
The green flag came out on lap 255, and it took Earnhardt three laps to get past Wimmer, who then faded quickly. Meanwhile, Kenseth charged toward the front, grabbing second place from Brian Vickers on lap 261.
But Kenseth couldn't catch Earnhardt, finishing 0.291-seconds -- about five car-lengths -- back.
