Notebook: Dale Jr. not too happy with Eury Jr., crew

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. got as high as third and was running sixth when he lost eight track positions in the final 25 laps and finished 14th.

"There at the end, I don't know what the hell [crew chief] Tony [Eury] Jr. and those guys did to the car, but it was terrible," Earnhardt said. "We ran pretty good all day until the end."

Any chance Earnhardt had of a top-10 finish ended during the final pit stop.

"It [was] just a poor pit stop," Earnhardt said. "We shot ourselves in the foot just not getting the car handling right there at the end and I'm frustrated as heck about it."

Junior moved up two spots in the points to 26th.

"This team, we're better than what we ran [Sunday]," Junior said. "I think everybody knows what we've gotta do."

Martin going out on top

The question everyone has pondered has come to pass: Mark Martin leads the point standings heading to Bristol, where he has said time and again he will not race.

He reiterated that point this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He finished 10th Sunday in the Kobalt Tools 500 and holds an eight-point lead on second-place Jeff Gordon.

"I feel good, man. I am looking forward to next weekend," said Martin, who added, "People might not believe it, but they'll have a hard time finding me next week."

Martin plans on being in Lake City, Fla., next weekend, where son Matt and Ricky Carmichael will be racing Late Models at Columbia Motorsports Park.

"It's been a hard-working stretch and I'm really looking [forward] to taking a little break," Martin said. "It's really cool and kind of a storybook to go out leading the points like this, but that will be gone after next week."

Biffle blames Reutimann for incident

Three weeks ago at California, Greg Biffle got into David Reutimann and sent him hard into the wall. On Sunday, Reutimann's left front made contact with Biffle's right rear on Lap 231, triggering a four-car accident.

"I don't really know," Reutimann, who finished 40th, said about the incident. "I was behind [Brian] Vickers, we got down in the straightaway and I thought Biffle moved up a little to help his entry. I was planning on running in behind Vickers on the top.

"It all happened so fast and I guess I got into [Biffle's] right rear and turned him into Vickers. I don't know if it was my fault or what, it was totally unexpected.

Biffle said it was Reutimann's fault. (Continued)