Earnhardt positive despite late crash

The Chevrolet driver was on course for a victory, but collided with Jimmie Johnson after Brian Vickers tapped his teammate on the final lap.

Earnhardt was less critical of Vickers than Johnson has been, and has taken the positives from the race.

"I'm happy that we ran so well, that was the best car I've had on a plate track in a long time," said the 2004 Daytona 500 winner.

"Our restrictor-plate programme has been under scrutiny the past few years because we're not the dominant plate team that we used to be, so I was pleased with the effort."

However, Earnhardt couldn't ignore the fact that he lost valuable points in the Chase for the Championship as he dropped to a 23rd place finish.

"The frustrating part is the loss of points," he said. "It would have been nice to walk out of there with top-five points rather than top-25 points. I wanted to win that race, but I would've settled for a top three."

After four of the 10 Chase events, Earnhardt is sixth in the standings, 106 points adrift of championship leader Jeff Burton.