HAMPTON, Ga. – With 14 laps to go at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. knew his best chance was coming when the green flag dropped.
He took the final restart of the race in third just behind teammate Jimmie Johnson, the leader at the time.
"I was nervous, for sure," No. 48 team crew chief Chad Knaus said. "Dale had a super-fast car. He was obviously very aggressive on the restarts. He had his plan before the green flag ever flew of what he was going to do. You could see that materializing before we got to the start/finish line."
Earnhardt gave it all he had to get his No. 88 Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet SS to the outside of Johnson's No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet SS.
He even stuck his nose out in front to briefly take the lead.
"I felt like if I got clean air, I was going to be in good shape," Johnson said. "When Junior was able to get to my outside, I didn't know what was going to happen down the backstretch."
But in turns three and four, Johnson "rocketed" back into the lead, and Earnhardt acknowledged that he didn't have the preferred line to battle back.
With Hendrick Motorsports inching toward a one-two finish, Knaus said he was hoping the race would stay green.
And even from second place, Earnhardt echoed those sentiments after his No. 88 Chevrolet SS hit some debris on the racetrack and it knocked the grille in.
"Real fortunate we didn't have another caution because I don't think we would have done well with the restart with that grille knocked out," he said. "It hurt the aerodynamics."
He was passed to fall back to third place, but managed to hold on for his second consecutive top-three finish.
All-in-all, Earnhardt left Atlanta Motor Speedway in great spirits.
"Happy with the car. Happy with (crew chief) Greg (Ives)," he said. "Greg is great at communicating. Our communication is natural, feels good. He's a pretty decent cheerleader, too, for myself, the team. Man, he's going to be something else for a while around that garage. I'm glad to be able to work with him there."
"We had a great car today," he continued. "Just not enough to beat Jimmie."