Dale Jr. barely escapes using provisional

SPEEDWAY, Ind. -- At least the car he co-owns went fast.

The car he drives, however, was slow Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

And it left Dale Earnhardt Jr. scratching his head. Thirty-sixth? Ouch. That's quite un-Junior-like in 2003, as he has qualified 18th or higher in 18 of the previous 20 races.

So when Earnhardt Jr. sailed off into Turn 1 on his opening qualifying lap, folks expected a pretty good number to flash up on the scoreboard. What they got was 180.484 mph.

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A thousandth of a second slower, and Earnhardt Jr. would've needed a provisional. As it was, he and Brett Bodine ran the same speed, but Junior got the 36th starting spot because he's higher in the points.

That was little consolation to Junior, however.

"The car didn't handle good," said Earnhardt Jr., who co-owns John Andretti's car, which starts 11th Sunday. "It just didn't drive good, didn't feel good. It was just uncomfortable.

"It wasn't set up good enough, I guess. I don't know. I just drove into the corner and didn't have the grip I needed and couldn't cut a faster lap."

There is hope, of course. The Brickyard 400 is 160 laps long, so there is plenty of time to get to the front. And Junior has precedence on his side, too. He qualified 37th at Atlanta - the only time he's needed a provisional this year -- but rallied to lead 23 laps and finish third.

"It's 400 miles. It's a long race," Earnhardt Jr. said. "There's plenty of race to make it happen. It just depends on how the cautions fall and if you can use things to your advantage.

"But your car's got to be handling to get to the front. No matter where you start, you have to be handling good. If we don't get it handling good, then we'll have our work cut out for us."