Earnhardt not sad to see Infineon behind him

SONOMA, Calif. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. is no fan of Infineon Raceway, and that didn't change Sunday after an early wreck ultimately ended his race.

Earnhardt was collateral damage in a seven-car accident triggered when Tony Stewart moved Brian Vickers out of his way at the entrance to Turn 11. The damage included a hole in Earnhardt's radiator, and his engine eventually blew, leading to just his second DNF since 2009.

"I'm not a big fan of the place, but maybe one of these days," Earnhardt said, noting the physical nature "is just the way the road courses are. That's the way the race has been here for a while, and you know what you sign up for when you show up on Friday."

Next up is Daytona, where Earnhardt could snap his three-year losing streak. But he surprisingly wasn't looking forward to that race because of the changes in the drafting style. Long a fan of pack racing, Earnhardt doesn't enjoy the two-car tandems -- even though he pushed teammate Jimmie Johnson to a victory at Talladega in April.

"I'm not looking forward to going to Daytona, not with the way the drafting is there," he said. "But we'll just have to see if we can get lucky out there. What's after Daytona? I'll be glad to go there."

Dale Jr in final stages of contract extension

Rick Hendrick said he's down to the final paperwork on signing #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. to an extension of three to five years. The owner of Hendrick Motorsports isn't sure when the announcement will be made, but he said Earnhardt wants to keep it low-key.

Toyota/Save Mart 350

We all know that Dale doesn't like road courses, and getting the front of the car damaged in a wreck that he had nothing to do with didn't help much either. Dale Jr was running in the mid 20's when Tony Stewart decided to spin out Brian Vickers. That caused damage to Dale's radiator and then overall his engine. His engine let go and he ended up with his 2nd DNF of this year. He finished 41st and moved down to 7th in points.

He'll have a change to regain the points he lost this Saturday night at Daytona.

Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400

Jr was running a great race until a late race incident caused him to fall back in the pits under repairs and ended up finishing 21st. He is still 3rd in points and only 27 behind Carl Edwards and in contention for the Chase.

It's time to go Road racing in Sonoma, a place that we all know Dale Jr isn't too thrilled about racing at, but with Stevie as his crew chief, he should do really well.

5-hour Energy 500

Signs of the confident Dale Jr are showing up all over the race track. That was apparently evident on Saturday when Dale and Stevie were reportedly spotted shopping together at an outlet mall near Pocono Raceway.

On Sunday, Dale ran very well and after starting 21st, fnished in 6th, maintaining his 3rd position in points.

Dale Jr's post race press conference

STP 400

So close and yet so far away ... Dale Jr finished 2nd in todays race after starting back in the mid 20's. He said he had a good car, but would have run out of fuel had he tried to push the car too far. Dale has moved up one position in the standings to 3rd.

Congrats to our buddy Brad on his win today at Kansas.

Next week the boys head to The Tricky Triangle, Pocono Raceway, in my home state of Pennsylvania!