Despite making contact in three wrecks Sunday at Talladega, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was in position for his seventh Alabama restrictor-plate track win Sunday. 

Talladega, Ala. deemed Earnhardt Country thanks to 10 race wins between Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Junior was on its collective feet hoping to see the latter win in his final race at the track where his Hall of Fame father won his last race 17 years to the day. 

For Earnhardt, the high speeds of Talladega and high probability of a wreck weighed on him as he took the green flag from the pole in the Alabama 500. Despite the chance for another concussion and its possible worrisome symptoms, Earnhardt led seven laps and escaped major damage as three massive wrecks left just 15 cars on the track at the end of the race. 

"We got lucky," Earnhardt told NBC Sports after finishing seventh in the race. "That was just luck being in the right place at the right time and not getting swept up in any of those wrecks. We had one there that knocked the splitter down really bad on the right-front and that is why we couldn’t do anything at the end. The car was just dragging the ground and wouldn’t go, wouldn’t take off, so it was a little wounded out there at the end. Still got a decent finish and came out of here in one piece.”

Earnhardt struggled with his balance and vision for weeks after suffering a concussion in a wreck last season in June, ending his year. Despite finishing Sunday's race in seventh, continuing his winless streak dating back to Nov. 2015, Earnhardt was pleased that he was able to "finish and finish well.''

"This has been a helluva weekend for me," Earnhardt told reporters after the race. "It’s been better than the last couple of trips here, the last couple of trips we had a lot of trouble in wrecks and hadn’t been able to come home with a decent finish.

"I would have loved to have won the race for all the fans that come out here. I know a lot of folks came to see this race just for the fact that it was my last plate race and trust me, I wanted to win it for all those folks more than myself, but just couldn’t get it done.”