Trouble on pit stop buries Earnhardt Jr. in the field, but he rallies for 6th-place finish
by: JIM UTTER- The Charlotte Observer

BROOKLYN, Mich. - Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a car capable of running up front, but late in Sunday's GFS Marketplace 400 at Michigan International Speedway a bad pit stop sent him to the back.

He was running second when the caution came out on Lap 131. Problems changing the left-rear tire dropped him to 19th on the restart.

He spent rest of the race fighting through heavy traffic and eventually finished sixth.

"It was a great car. It was so much fun to be the fastest car out there for the first three-fourths of the race," said Earnhardt Jr., who won Saturday's Busch Series race. "When we had it up front, it was awesome fast.

"We had some kind of trouble on a pit stop - I don't know what it was - and then we were deep into traffic. The car was not as good back there as it was early on, and I just had to grind out spot-by-spot."