Dale Earnhardt Jr. won Pocono 400 because of hot dog wrapper

On Sunday afternoon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Pocono 400. It was the first win of his career of his career, but it didn’t come without some additional help. What was the extra boost that Earnhardt Jr. received at a crucial time of the race? A hot dog wrapper.

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Seriously.

Brad Keselowski was in control of the race and seemed to have Dale Earnhardt Jr. beat, but he pulled up behind Danica Patrick in an effort to get some debris off of the front of his car.

The debris was a hot dog wrapper that came flying down from the stands, and the move behind Patrick caused Keselowski to lose all of his momentum.

As a result, Earnhardt Jr. came flying by for the lead and ultimately the win.

“I feel like this one is kind of on me and the circumstances,” Keselowski said. “I was trying to do something to help my car out and I knew it was going to break and I was going to get passed, so I was trying to make whatever move I could do to help clean it off, and I’m not sure I did enough to make a difference.

“But I made enough of a difference to lose the lead in the process. I thought I had enough of a cushion, and when I got down in the corner and the car in front of me got sideways, I realized I had made a mistake. But it was too little, too late.”

Earnhardt Jr. feels some of Keselowski’s pain, but he has to be happy that he brought home the win.

“That is unfortunate for him,” Earnhardt said. “He had me beat. I couldn’t get to him. But I have lost some in some strange ways so it feels good to win one like that.

“Brad definitely had the better car — I am definitely owning up to that.”

Earnhardt Jr. owes a big thank you to whoever was in the stands and let that hot dog wrapper go loose.

We better not see Earnhardt Jr. doing any anti-littering campaigns anytime soon.

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