The wait is finally over for the legions of Dale Earnhardt Jr fans as NASCAR's most popular driver finally stopped his 76 race winless streak in Sunday's Lifelock 400 at the Michigan International Speedway.
Earnhardt Jr's first point paying victory since May 2006 at Richmond may have come down to a brave fuel mileage gamble from his #88 Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Tony Eury Jr but it was still a most welcome fillip for a driver threatened with the ‘underachiever' tag following his near 80-race winless streak and his failure to qualify for last year's Chase for the Championship.
After running in the top ten for most of the day Earnhardt Jr suddenly found himself battling for the lead with half a dozen of the 200-laps left as most of the leaders were forced to pit for a last gasp splash of fuel. Dale Jr, Jamie McMurray and Kasey Kahne led the list of drivers who tried to gamble although Sam Hornish Jr's spin with three laps remaining threw an added spanner in the works as the race was sent into a ‘green-white-chequered' flag overtime finish.
Clinging to the apron of the two-mile D-shaped oval Earnhardt Jr managed to save enough fuel to keep the field behind him on the restart and as he flashed across the line to take the white flag, a crash between Michael Waltrip and Patrick Carpentier brought out another yellow, effectively ending the race. Earnhardt Jr and Kahne crawled around the final half a lap to the chequered flag, which Earnhardt received with rapturous applause from the Michigan grandstands before promptly running out of fuel before he could celebrate.
After starting his career with Hendrick with two non championship wins, Dale Jr has solidified his status as a real championship threat this year with his first ‘real' win providing an extra boost.
![Dale Earnhardt Jr. [Pic Credit image.net]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/405828.jpg)
