Hard luck continues for Junior at The Rock

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. -- Considering the dismal luck Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has experienced over the first two weeks of the 2003 Winston Cup season, he might opt to leave his wallet in his pocket next week at Las Vegas.

After dominating the first 11 days of Speedweeks at Daytona, Junior entered the Daytona 500 as an overwhelming choice to run away with the Great American Race.

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But nearing the midway point, an alternator problem drained his primary battery of power, forcing him to pit under the green flag. He lost two laps changing batteries, and when the rain showers ended the event prematurely he was a lap down in 36th position.

His fortunes got no better Sunday at Rockingham.

Junior started the weekend well, qualifying 12th for the Subway 400 at a track where his average starting position is 24th. But things quickly soured. Riding along mid-pack early in the event, Junior got together with Jeff Gordon, smashing in the left front fender of the No. 8 Chevrolet.

The resulting flat tire forced the day's first caution, and began what would be a day to forget for Junior.

"Jeff come up into the left-front fender and knocked the left-front fender in on the tire," said Junior. "We blew the left-front tire out. That just set us in all kinds of trouble, as far as trying to fix that.

"I'm not mad at Jeff or anything, but that was kind of a bull (expletive) move. But you've got to do what you've got to do on this track. It's so damn wore out you can't even race on it."

VIDEO CLIPS Victory Lane Play video Busch is runner-up for the second straight week Play video Kenseth ends up third at The Rock Play video McMurray is highest finishing rookie Play video Earnhardt Jr. has trouble all day long Play video Earnhardt Jr., Nadeau tangle Play video Sprague gets into K. Wallace Play video The Subway 400 gets under way Play video

That was just the beginning. In all, Junior was involved in four of the day's seven caution periods. On lap 174 ,he spun on the backstretch to bring out the day's fifth caution.

Then on lap 276 he got together with Jeremy Mayfield in Turn 2. Finally, on lap 299 Gordon hit him in the rear in Turn 4, forcing the right rear of the No. 8 Chevrolet hard into the outside wall and sending Gordon spinning into the infield grass.

In the end, he finished three laps down in 33rd position.

"We just didn't have a good car, kept spinning out," he said. "I don't think we've had a good finish here since I started racing. Expectations weren't high."

During the weeks leading up to the 2003 Winston Cup Series season, Earnhardt, Jr. was adamant that the No. 8 team was of championship caliber. But after starting the season with two finishes outside the top-30, a difficult task is made even tougher.

Heading to Las Vegas Junior ranks 38th in points, 221 points behind leader Kurt Busch. Sunday's race winner Dale Jarrett ranks second, followed by Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin and Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip.

"We were just chasing the handle on the race car all day long," Junior said. "We'll just have to get out of here and go to Vegas."