Dale Jr’s Missing Crown Jewel: The 2011 Coca-Cola 600 Retrospective

Sad part about this loss, I knew it was coming, too.

Before, perhaps, the biggest heartbreak suffered for us Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans happened at his hometown track, you had to be reminded of what took place literally 6–7 hours earlier at Indianapolis with JR Hildebrand’s disastrous final lap trying to navigate past a lapped car coming into turn 4, where JR wrecked the car by going on a part of the track you should never go on, which was the grey (the late Dan Wheldon won the race, by the way). In motorsports, there are “grooves” which are passing lanes for all drivers to make passes if you simply can’t pass strictly on the bottom. Indianapolis just doesn’t have a second groove, which is why the bottom is the preferred line & the best way to pass cars is either on the front or backstretch to create a run. JR Hildebrand’s final lap was also noteworthy because the National Guard sponsored him for Panther Racing. They also sponsored Jr at the Coca-Cola 600, creating a moment that most certainly lived in infamy at two historic tracks on Memorial Day Weekend in 2011.

JR Hildebrand’s wrecked vehicle being passed by Dan Wheldon on the final lap of the 2011 Indy 500 (left), while Kevin “The Closer” Harvick passed Dale Earnhardt Jr on the final lap coming off of Turn 4 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (right).

So, how did what seemed to be a sure thing for the once popular driver in NASCAR happen? As the race was coming to its eventual conclusion, fuel was becoming a concern for Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne & Greg Biffle. None of the aforementioned drivers could make it beyond scheduled distance but Dale Jr seemingly could after Kahne bobbled on the ensuing restart that triggered the Green-White-Checkered.

After coming up short at Martinsville, it looked as if this would be the time to break a near four year winless streak after only winning on an economy run in the 2008 Lifelock 400 at Michigan International Speedway with a timely caution at the white flag. The whole restart was absurd, anyway, as Kahne, Jeff Burton & others just had fuel issues or other random stuff happen. It appeared to be Dale Jr’s night…until it wasn’t.

As he was coming to the backstretch, the 88 car slowed, as he ran out of fuel & the man that snuck by him on his outside, was also the one that passed him for the final lead change at Martinsville in one Kevin Harvick. Harvick wasn’t much of a factor throughout the event, as he dealt with an ill-handling car but as the race transitioned from day to night, he got better as the carnage & attrition racked up.

And being the skeptic I was about Jr’s long-winless streak, which included two awful season campaign (2009–10), I just didn’t think he & Steve Letarte (crew chief of the 88, at the time) could do it. and it didn’t work out. I wasn’t even emotional about it, but it didn’t hurt any less, considering what happened to a fellow National Guard sponsored driver.

Kevin Harvick only led two laps but one of them was the last one.

That loss was the closest Jr. ever came to winning a points-paying event at Charlotte other than 2000 rookie season, when he led a race-high 175 of 400 laps, before fellow rookie, Matt Kenseth won that one back then (Jr. finished 4th that night). This could’ve happened to anyone & seeing those last laps transpire, it was certainly stressful…but even Redneck Jesus wasn’t safe from the agony of even more defeat.