Win reminded No. 88 team that 'we can accomplish some really good things'

RIDGEWAY, Va. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. found Victory Lane in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup – but it came one week after he was eliminated from championship contention.

With that in mind, it’s easy to play the ‘What if?’ game – if only the victory had come one week earlier, right?

“No, not at all,” crew chief Steve Letarte said. “In my opinion I thank NASCAR for the new Chase. We went to Charlotte and Talladega with an opportunity to advance in the Chase. If it was the Chase last year at Kansas when we blew a tire, we were eliminated. That's how I look at it.”

So the No. 88 team didn’t advance to Homestead-Miami Speedway with a shot at the championship. But that didn’t dampen the importance of the win, or the emotional celebration it brought out in Victory Lane.

“There's no better feeling that I know of,” Earnhardt said. “I know how fun winning races is, how hard it is to win races, especially at this particular racetrack. How many years we've been coming here and trying to win.”

And more than that, it reminded the team of its potential.

Earnhardt acknowledged that while confidence was high as the No. 88 team won three races in the regular season, being eliminated from the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup was a disappointing blow.

“This Chase and the disappointment in this Chase beat all that success and all that mojo and all that pride, all that excitement out of these guys,” the driver said. “So to win (Sunday) sort of reminds the team, more importantly than myself, I think it reminds the team, the engineers, that what we’ve got is a good thing.”

Earnhardt noted that the team will miss Letarte, who is departing after the season for a new position with NBC. But what he did not initially expect was that the rest of the team is staying intact.

“Everybody said, ‘When (2015 No. 88 crew chief) Greg (Ives) is coming, we’re here,’’ Earnhardt noted. “I think that win reminded that team and those guys what they're capable of. Yeah, we've had some bad breaks with the tire at Kansas, just some poor runs where we got outrun. But we can accomplish some really good things and win more races. So I think that was good for them.”

Letarte said he was most impressed by the way the team approached the race.

Walking into the garage on Friday, he recalled, it wasn’t obvious whether the No. 88 team was the leader in points or eliminated from the Chase. And it showed in Sunday’s result.

“I think more than anything, what I'm proud of is the fact we were eliminated seven short days ago,” he said. “This team performed. They came to work. They were ready to go when we showed up.”

And ultimately they got the win.

Championship or not, it is those kinds of results that leave Earnhardt with no doubt that he will look back on the 2014 season with fond memories.

“I definitely would put it as a successful year,” he said. “We feel like we've been working to this point for five years with Steve, trying to get going. Instead of running up the stairs to the top, we've had to take one step a year. Finally we're getting to where we're winning some races.”

“Winning races is what it's all about.”