Earnhardt wrangles bucking car to fourth place

Dale Earnhardt Jr. looked worn out and perhaps not a little disappointed following Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.

Earnhardt battled an ill-handling car for much of the Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway, but held on for a fourth-place finish.

That was enough to keep him third in the standings, where he now trails points leader Kyle Busch by 145 points.

Asked to describe his day, Earnhardt said it wasn't exactly thrilling.

"Fun wouldn't be in there," he said. "We were pretty good at the start of the race, then I got a little bit loose, then a little bit tight there in the middle part and lost a lot of track position. But we gained it back with a little bit of strategy in the pits. ...

"We worked the gas mileage to our advantage."