Dale Earnhardt Jr. leads the Winston Cup Series in top-five finishes. Credit: Autostock
By Marty Smith, Turner Sports Interactive
April 14, 2003
10:46 AM EDT (1446 GMT)
Remains second in points, just 51 behind Kenseth
MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- In early March, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. appeared to be spiraling into an abyss of mediocrity.
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Now mid-April, he can seemingly do no wrong.
By finishing third in Sunday's Virginia 500 at Martinsville Speedway, Earnhardt earned his third top-three finish in as many weeks and moved to within 51 points of leader Matt Kenseth.
Moreover, he further distanced himself from a nightmarish two-week span to open the season that resulted in 36th and 33rd-place finishes at Daytona and Rockingham, respectively, and relegated him to points cellar-dweller.
In the seven weeks since, he has tallied five top-three finishes and jumped from 38th to second in the championship standings. Though content, he's not getting carried away in celebration.
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| Earnhardt Jr. was in the top 10 for all 500 laps on Sunday. Credit: Autostock |
"I'll believe it when we win it," said Earnhardt after posting his career-best finish at Martinsville on Sunday. "This is a long season and a lot can happen. We were in this same situation last year, coming out of here with a top-five finish.
"We were solidly in fifth or so in the points going into our weekend off and didn't have much of a season after that until the end again. I feel like we can do this all year long. If we do, we do."
There is no questioning that they carry the proper attitude. With 55 laps remaining in Sunday's race, Earnhardt was primed to make a run at leader Bobby Labonte when Ricky Craven's lapped car had a tire go down and washed up into him.
 | VIDEO CLIPS | | | |  | J. Burton scores his first top-five of 2003
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|  | Wallace, Earnhardt Jr, and Gordon battle for the lead
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He lost several positions, but got back in line just as Craven stalled in Turn 2 to bring out the day's ninth caution. Spotter Ty Norris was livid on the radio, voicing his dismay over Craven's having forced them to lose valuable positions late in the race.
First one voice came over the radio and told Norris to calm down.
Then, Junior cued the radio and told everyone to chill out, that they had built him a race-winning car and that their focus was on the bigger picture.
In the past, it would have been all about the next 40 laps.
"We came back and finished third, that's going to help us a lot in the points," Earnhardt said. "We were racing against the best cars in the field there at the end, and you're going to tear your car up. Where else can you tear your car all to hell and be happy about it?
"We can't get lackadaisical or too confident. We have to continue to have a lot of respect for our competition and where we stand up against them at some of these racetracks we're coming up to -- like Pocono and whatnot."
Junior's effort Sunday marks his third-straight top-five at Martinsville.
"We did have a good car today. We led some laps and that was real fun, just being up front and putting cars laps down and trying to put the race away," Junior said. "We had a top-two or three car today."
Daytona was less than two months ago, but presently, it feels like decades.
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