RICHMOND, Va. -- Much to the disappointment of Junior Nation, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will not be going out as a champion.

Earnhardt, who announced in April that this will be his final season as a fulltime Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver, needed a victory Saturday night at Richmond Raceway to earn a berth in the 16-driver playoff field. But the 14-time most popular driver came up short in the final race of the regular season despite making a bold strategy move that temporarily put him in the lead.

Earnhardt stayed out on the race track after the majority of the drivers hit pit road under green and led 13 laps during the final stage. But he was eventually caught by faster cars on fresh tires and conceded the lead and his last best chance for the win.

He left the Federated Auto Parts 400 with a 13th-place finish but was pleased with his performance and the call by interim crew chief Travis Mack, who had taken the reins of the No. 88 Chevrolet while regular crew chief Greg Ives served a one-race suspension.

“We tried our butts off to get ourselves a good car, we worked on it in practice, and it was great. It was a really good car,” said Earnhardt, who ran inside the top 10 for much of the night. “We were up there racing in the front around the guys we should be racing against.

“We had to take a gamble on that strategy, and that cost us a handful of spots, but still a real good weekend for us.”

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Earnhardt, who started 21st, has struggled for most of the season, posting just one top-five finish (April 9 at Texas Motor Speedway) and recording seven DNFs in 26 races. But for a while, the 42-year-old looked like the 2014-15 version who recorded seven wins and 28 top-fives in two seasons, and he lamented the fact that he wasn’t able to muster that kind of performance for most of 2017.

“We had some odd luck, and when we didn’t have bad luck, we didn’t capitalize,” Earnhardt said. “We just didn’t run like we should have. If we had run like we did tonight, like we had for the last several years, we would have made (the playoffs)."

Despite the tough season, the 18-year Cup veteran reiterated that he has enjoyed his experience this year.

“The reaction from the fans and everything that I’ve experienced from week to week has been really uplifting,” he said. “It’s been a positive, fun experience. It’s meant a lot to me.”

Though he won’t contend for the championship, the Hendrick Motorsports driver still has 10 more races before his Cup career comes to an end, including Talladega Superspeedway, where he has won six times, and Phoenix Raceway, site of his most recent victory in November 2015.

And, of course, the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 19, which Earnhardt anticipates is “going to be just a big ole blur. I don’t know how that day is going to feel, but you know it’s going to be one of those deals where you won’t be able to… I don’t think you are able to take it in at the moment, but I have been able throughout this season to take in these little moments here and there throughout every weekend and they have been really nice.”

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