Dale Earnhardt Jr's Phoenix Run Was a Disappointment

Dale Earnhardt Jr's 130-race winless streak was going to come to an end at Phoenix on Sunday. Almost every NASCAR fan out there could feel it.

All the pieces were in place. Junior was coming off a runner-up finish in the season-opening Daytona 500, and Sunday's race at Phoenix was supposed to be even better.

Throughout Speedweeks, Earnhardt talked about how excited he was to get to Phoenix, because he liked his chances there better than Daytona.

All that was left to do was go out and prove it on Sunday. But 312 laps later, Junior Nation saw his winless streak reach 131.

"There just wasn't a lot of grip out there," Earnhardt said after the race. "We had to be patient and get whatever we could, because we were really sliding the right-rear everywhere, and when we got behind other cars it was really hard to pass them. We would get so tight, and it would just push.

"But we got everything we could get today, and sometimes that's what you have to do."

Unfortunately, "everything we could get" turned out to only be a 14th-place finish, a far cry from where many expected Earnhardt to end up.

The problem for Earnhardt on Sunday, as it was for many drivers, was just as he said: handling. The weather in Phoenix was unseasonably warm on Sunday, and it wreaked havoc on several cars.

But so much hype surrounded Earnhardt coming into this race after he seemed so confident about his Phoenix car all the way back at Daytona that a 14th-place effort was, in a word, disappointing.

The most discouraging thing about Earnhardt's run was that 14th was about the best he ran all day.

Earnhardt spent most of the day in the high teens and low 20s, and only in the waning laps when cars were dropping out of the race due to engine and fuel trouble did he manage to muster his 14th-place effort.

However, there is some good news for Junior after his mediocre Phoenix run.

Earnhardt still sits fifth in the standings heading to race No. 3 at Las Vegas, 17 points behind the leader.

Better yet, Earnhardt and crew chief Steve Letarte still have 24 races to get the No. 88 car competitive enough to contend for top 5s and top 10s, as well as that elusive win before the Chase starts.

Earnhardt and crew need to put their rough Phoenix effort behind them and get better in order to avoid more disappointment throughout the season, and Junior knows it.

"We have a long way to go. We know we need to get better."