At Charlotte, Earnhardt Jr was battling for a position inside the top 10 when he made contact Carl Edwards and hit the wall ending up 29th. At Kansas, Earnhardt Jr had to pit for a loose wheel under green and ended up finishing 21st, 2 laps down. Heading into Talladega, he basically needed to win to advance. He led 61 laps, but he slid his tires coming onto pit road and ended up having to take 2 tires instead of fuel only while others were taking fuel only. He ended up on the front row, heading into the only GWC. But a wreck behind him ended up cutting it short and he ended up 2nd upon a review, eliminating him from the championship. At Martinsville, the week after he was eliminated from Chase Contention, he was strong all race taking home a 4th-place finish at the track. At Texas the following week Earnhardt recovered from an early spin to finish 6th. Earnhardt Jr. managed to get his 3rd victory of the season at Phoenix, after the race was called for rain. At the season finale at Homestead Earnhardt crashed early in the race, winding up 40th. For the 13th consecutive year, Earnhardt won the NMPA Most Popular Driver Award.