Junior takes blame for late crash.

Dale Earnhardt Jr laid the blame for Sunday's clash with Carl Edwards at his own feet as a golden opportunity to take the NASCAR Nextel Cup points lead went begging at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Racing for third place just 14 laps from home, Earnhardt Jr's #8 Budweiser Chevrolet slewed into the front corner of Edwards' #99 World Financial Group Ford as they charged off turn two at the 1.54-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Earnhardt Jr spun across the track and slammed hard into the inside wall, forcing him out of the event and dropping him to 33rd in the final classification. On a day where points leader Kurt Busch finished 42nd after blowing an engine, Earnhardt's crash cost him almost 100 points.

"I was racing for the win there, but I think I came up on Carl (Edwards) there and turned myself into the inside fence there and tore my car up," stated Junior, who would have moved into the Championship lead had he finished third. "We had a good car today. It was kind of disappointing to lose all those points but I don't think it was Carl's fault there. I just came up on him I think and it went from there."

Although Earnhardt Jr dropped to fifth in the standings and gained just 27 points on Busch, he remains unconcerned by his 98 point deficit with just three races remaining.

"I am not worried about the points," he said. " We came here to win the race and that is what I was trying to do. We could have gained a lot of points and that would have been nice but it is hard to race like that for me. My car was really good there at the end. I had a car good enough to win the race and that is what I was trying to do was win."