Earnhardt Jr. frustrated after late crash at NHMS

LOUDON, N.H. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. and David Reutimann were in similar situations Sunday at New Hampshire International Speedway: Racing for nothing but wins, pride and respect as the sixth-annual Chase kicked off with the Sylvania 300.

A wreck with less than 20 laps to go ruined any chance for a win for both drivers.

Earnhardt and crew chief Lance McGrew tuned their No. 88 Chevrolet into a car that was a potential race winner, which has been a rarity for Earnhardt this season.

Junior seeing red

David Reutimann comes up the track and puts Dale Earnhardt Jr. into the wall, ending his day in Loudon.

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Reutimann was more consistent throughout the day, but by the final 100 laps he and crew chief Rodney Childers had persevered with an ill-handling No. 00 Toyota that was perched on the verge of gaining a top-five finish.

But right after a restart with 18 laps to go, Reutimann and Earnhardt were running fifth and sixth, respectively, when they went into Turn 3 side-by-side. When Reutimann's loose car washed-up the race track, it knocked Earnhardt's car into the outside wall.

Earnhardt tried to limp away to the garage, but his car was too badly damaged and he ended up out on the spot, in 35th. Reutimann soldiered through two more restarts but ultimately slipped back to finish 12th -- his fifth consecutive top-20 finish.

"Our car wasn't very good when the cars were all bunched-up," Childers said. "On long runs, when it got real spread out, it was really good. We just didn't need that caution near the end, when we were running fifth because we didn't have anybody catching us and we were in pretty good shape."

The crash set up a potential war of words, but with Reutimann's hauler the last one in line and next to the back gate into the garage -- where a fleet of drivers' golf carts waited following the event -- apparently he exited the car, and quickly left the area.

Earnhardt, however, was openly bitter when he exited the infield care center. A season's worth of frustration poured out when he was told Reutimann had relayed a message by radio accepting blame for the accident. (Continued)