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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Earnhardt, Hendrick Teammates Still Pushing
Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished second at Martinsville in the spring...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted October 29, 2011   Martinsville, VA
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Left) and Jimmie Johnson (Right) speak with Jeff Gordon (Center). (Photo: Getty Images)
So far, the Chase for the Sprint Cup has been a disappointment for Dale Earnhardt Jr.. and his Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon.

After barely squeaking into the Chase, Earnhardt opened NASCAR’s playoff round with a third-place run at Chicagoland Speedway, igniting hope among the millions of Earnhardt fans that their favorite driver might be ready for a serious title run.

Alas, it didn’t play out that way.

Not even close, in fact.

In the subsequent five Chase races, Earnhardt has had an average finish of just 19.8, with a best of 14th at Kansas Speedway.

Still, Earnhardt is ninth in points and is on pace to have his highest finish since 2006, when he ended the year sixth. And he’s racing at Martinsville Speedway tomorrow, the place where he led 17 laps and finished second to Kevin Harvick in the spring.

“Looking forward to racing, should have good weather for race day,” Earnhardt said Friday at the Virginia short track. “This is a fun race track and I enjoy coming here, look forward to the race and trying to run as good, run as good as we did last time maybe improve a little bit, hopefully get an opportunity to work on the car a little bit in practice and get a chance to see if we can come up with some new things, a little bit better setup, cause when it rains and you do not get a lot of practice you tend to fall back on past setups and stuff that were successful. You like the opportunity to get on the track and see if you can find some new ideas.”

Like Earnhardt, his Hendrick teammates and fellow Chasers Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon have had hugely disappointing playoff runs. Johnson is seventh in points and would need a miracle to win his sixth consecutive championship, while Gordon is 10th after failing to finish in the top 20 for three consecutive races.

Now in his 10th full season of Sprint Cup racing, Johnson has never finished lower than fifth in points. He has also finished second twice to go with his five championships, so his motivation now is to keep the streak of top fives alive. He’s not giving up on his dream of a sixth championship quite yet, either.

“As long as we are still mathematically in it, I’m not going to give up hope,” said Johnson. “I just never been one to lay down on something or to quit and not try, we have four races left on the schedule, stuff can happen. That window of opportunity is getting smaller and smaller especially with these last two weeks, but it is not over until it is over. In racing, a lot of weird things happen and we will just see.

“If that door or window closes on winning the championship, again I want to finish as high as I possibly can in the points for my team, and for my sponsors,” said Johnson. “I have been able to be in the top five in points since I started at the Cup level, I would love to keep that stat alive; so there is still a ton to race for including a championship. We just take it race by race.”

For Gordon, one of favorites to win the Chase, his mindset is simple: Just win, baby.

“Past experiences good ones or negative ones, I put that behind me,” said Gordon. “I’m just here thinking about Martinsville and what it’s going to take to win and we are here to win.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
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