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Dale Jr. on help from the No. 48 team: ‘We are leaning on them pretty hard’

CONCORD, N.C. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. continues to search for answers in this, his final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.

But they continue to be elusive as Earnhardt prepares for his last Coca-Cola 600 this Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway (5:30 p.m. ET on FOX).

In Thursday’s lone Cup practice at the 1.5-mile track, the best Earnhardt could manage in his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was a top lap of 190.389 miles per hour that ranked 22nd fastest out of the 40-car field.

The really frustrating part of it for Earnhardt was that he ran the same setup as Hendrick teammate Jimmie Johnson, who was second-fastest at 192.