Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s frustrations continued in the early going of Sunday's Camping World RV 400. After starting the day from the tenth-spot, Junior seemed to lose the handling of the car as he quickly dropped through the field.

By Lap 100, Earnhardt Jr. had fell to the 25th-spot and was fighting to find more grip in the car. Just as Earnhardt Jr. went a lap down to leader Matt Kenseth on Lap 141, the caution flag flew. While usually a good break, unfortunately for Junior, it was his problem that brought out the yellow flag. A blown right rear tire sent the No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy spinning off Turn 2. Junior was able to keep it off the wall, however the blown tire tore up the right rear fender, ruining his chances of any sort of comeback.

"I really hate how it hurt our point race, but that was the best we could do today," Earnhardt Jr. said following the race. "We didn't put the right set-up underneath it. Me and Tony Junior worked on that direction today, but it was the wrong direction. So, we'll try to rebound next week."

Never one to give up, Earnhardt Jr. and his Hendrick Motorsports crew worked hard to fight back to the 24th-spot at the end of the day. Still, with nine of the top eleven finishers being Chase drivers, Earnhardt Jr. still lost five spots in the standings. The fan-favorite leaves Dover ninth in the Chase, 129 points behind Carl Edwards, but remains optimistic.

"We're going to Charlotte to test this week. I'm optimistic," Junior explained. "To be honest with you, when a tire blows like that, I've seen a lot of other teams just give up and ride it out, and we got ten spots better than I think a lot of other guys would have. We're going to work hard."