Summary:
Earnhardt has a bad run in Rockingham Oct. 24
 Dale
Earnhardt, who won last week's Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, was relegated to a
40th-place finish in Sunday's Pop Secret 400 after getting involved in an accident on Lap
322.
Earnhardt and Kenny Irwin touched bumpers exiting Turn 2, and Earnhardt hit the
wall. Wally Dallenbach had just about avoided the incident when Jerry Nadeau came out from
behind, sending Dallenbach into a spin.
"(Irwin) hooked me with his right rear, and I think the pipe in the bumper
stuck in the nose of my car because I couldn't run,'' Earnhardt said. ``It just pushed me
right in the wall. I knocked the heck out of the wall and tore off the wall and tore my
right side tires off of it."
Earnhardt has been chasing a spot in the top five in the series points race and was
seventh entering Sunday's race, 120 points behind fifth-place Tony Stewart. After his
performance Sunday, Earnhardt remained in seventh place but has now dropped to 204 points
out of fifth place.
"This might knock us out of (contention),'' Earnhardt said. ``We just wanted
to finish today. I don't know how many laps we were down and it doesn't matter. We needed
to finish at least."
Earnhardt qualifies 37th in Rockingham
Oct. 22
Dale Earnhardt was 37th fastest in first-round qualifying on
Friday at Rockingham.
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