BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Twenty minutes after the Sharpie 500 had been completed in dramatic fashion at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night, Dale Earnhardt Jr. sat on the edge of the back of his hauler, head in hands.

Looking just as dismayed, crew chief Tony Eury Jr. sat next to him, commiserating about the difficult night they had just endured. They looked like a pair searching for answers after finishing 18th, two laps behind winner Carl Edwards.

“

Obviously we aren't doing things right here. We need to get smart and do it right. It was a tough night; it was tough to deal with.

”

DALE EARNHARDT JR.

"We struggled all night. I don't know what the deal was," Earnhardt said.

Earnhardt was not alone in wondering what the deal was on a night when Bristol reclaimed much of its former glory during an entertaining race in front of a crowd of 165,000 -- the 53rd consecutive sellout at the venue nestled in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains.

As bad a night as Earnhardt thought he had, he actually moved up one spot in the point standings to third behind leader Kyle Busch and Edwards as his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson fell one spot after finishing 33rd in Saturday's race -- 18 laps off the winning pace.

Earnhardt's problems began technically before the race even started. He qualified horribly, in 40th starting position, and then tried to make up for it by passing folks before he had even reached the start-finish line after the green flag dropped to begin the race.

That's illegal, and Earnhardt promptly was ordered to serve a pass-through penalty that put him a lap down right away (watch video). He never made it up, even though he got close a couple of times.

"The car handling was pretty bad all night," Earnhardt said.

Johnson encountered his own early problems. He ran into the back of Sterling Marlin's No. 09 Chevrolet on Lap 27, cut a tire that forced him to make a green-flag pit stop, and never recovered from the mishap (watch video).

Earnhardt and Johnson weren't the only potential contenders in the Chase for the Sprint Cup who suffered through difficult nights. Jeff Burton was running fourth in the race and was up to third in points for the moment when he was taken out in a wreck on Lap 196. (Continued)