Earnhardt realistic about Chase hopes

Earnhardt moved up one spot in the championship race after his 12th place finish at Michigan on Tuesday, but despite that, he lost ground to Kurt Busch who won the race and is now 63 points further ahead in 12th place, the last giving a spot in the Chase.

"We've run great the past six weeks or so, but just can't catch a break," said Earnhardt Jr ahead of this weekend's race at Bristol. "We'll need a really big break in the point standings to get back in contention to make the Chase.

"But it was only a few years back (2004) when we were struggling after I got burnt (in a sports car crash), and we came in here and won the Busch and the Cup races that weekend. That was a great boost for the whole team, and it meant a lot to me personally to win at Bristol. Maybe we can do it again Saturday night."

Earnhardt has only won once at Bristol in the Nextel Cup back in 2004. He was seventh in this year's first race at the half-mile oval, where once again teams will be racing with the Car of Tomorrow, something that probably will boost his chances of a good finish.

However, he will find a completely different surface at Bristol this weekend due to the track being recently repaved, and Earnhardt is uncertain about how this will affect the usually tight racing on the concrete banking.

"They've repaved Bristol, so that means a lot of unknowns for everyone," Earnhardt added. "I'm hearing they've smoothed-out the bumps and I'm anxious to see what impact that will have.

"The old surface was very very rough - it was like a jackhammer on your body - but it offered you a chance to get past someone if they got loose on the bumps coming up out of the turns. We'll see if that makes it a lot harder to pass people. But, if it can be done, we'll stick our nose in there and get it done."

Earnhardt Jr has made the Chase for the Nextel Cup two out of three times since the format was first implemented in 2004. In 2005 he finished 19th in the point standings after failing to finish six races, while in 2004 and 2006 he made the Chase and ranked fifth in the championship.