Dale Jr laps it up.

Dale Earnhardt Jr had to settle for a twelfth place finish in Sunday's Pocono 500 after trying to eke one lap too many out of his Budweiser Chevrolet's fuel tank in a brave bid to turn a top-ten finish into a win.

Dale Earnhardt Jr and the #8 DEI Budweiser Chevrolet team finished outside the top ten for the fifth race in succession in Sunday's Pocono 500 at the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway coming home in twelfth position.

Despite describing the 200-lap event as " a tough day," the results could have been worse for Earnhardt Jr, who finished on the lead lap of a race for the first time since winning the Aaron's 499 at Talladega almost two months ago and remained in 14th place in the current driver's standings.

From 14th place on the grid, Earnhardt Jr was soon inside the top five around the demanding 2.5-mile triangular shaped oval but could not maintain the pace of the leaders and soon dropped back, leaving the team to explore other options as regards to getting the win.

One of those options was increasing the fuel mileage on the #8 Bud car but this backfired on lap 158 when Dale Jr ran out of gas just as he headed onto pit road for what could have been his final pit-stop of the day. To make matters worse, the Budweiser crew were then penalized for having too many people over the pitwall and Dale Earnhardt Jr had to take a pit-road penalty, which dropped him off the lead lap.

All seemed lost as regards to a top 20 finish when the caution flag came out for a fourth time on lap 168 to clear a chunk of metal out of the turn three area. All the leaders dived onto pit road and Dale Jr was able to pick up a bunch of positions and regain his place on the lead lap by taking just two tyres and a splash of fuel.

When the field returned to racing for the final time on lap 173, Earnhardt Jr was 14th and even though many of those around him had four new tyres as opposed to two, he was still able to make up two more positions by the time the chequered flag fell.

"The day was tough," said a weary Dale Jr afterwards. "Tony (Eury) Jr. (car chief) and the guys really had some gas mileage figured out and had an idea for us to try to win the race, but things changed.

"I was there with him, I was behind him 100 percent. I was a little disappointed and upset; (I'd) rather take the chance than not. It's a tough deal.

"We ran out of gas coming down the back straightaway, got in the pits, made our lap back; that was a good thing. A good highlight to the day."