Notebook: Junior enjoying calmer week

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr., if it's possible, is flying a little under the radar this week - at least when compared to the attention he got last week.

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Earnhardt Jr. wrecked at Dover and suffered a concussion and a sprained right foot two weeks ago. That was before going to Talladega, where Junior had a four-race winning streak going.

This week, though, the attention is a little less. Well, less attention is relative for Junior, who received his usual screams anywhere he goes.

Still, Earnhardt Jr. was fast, putting his No. 8 Chevrolet in the third starting spot for Sunday's Banquet 400 at Kansas Speedway.

"My car was pretty good in practice," Earnhardt Jr. said. "We were trying to figure out among the three sets of tires which was the best to qualify on. We made a few changes, tried some shocks that really helped the car. For some reason, we seemed to pick up quite a bit on our qualifying run.

"We did that last year too, so I had a lot of confidence in the car. It did what I wanted it to do. I made a few technical errors with my entry into Turn 3, but I don't know how much difference that would have made."

Earnhardt Jr. won the Bud Pole last year at Kansas and ended up sixth. He's got his eye on the big picture, trying to chase Kevin Harvick for second place in the points. Of course, both Junior and Harvick would love to track down Matt Kenseth, who's 354 points ahead.

Kenseth had trouble Friday, wrecking his primary car and qualifying poorly in his backup. With Johnson starting on the pole and Junior third, Kenseth has a long way to go to catch those two Sunday.

Earnhardt Jr. certainly doesn't want to see Kenseth hit the wall, but Junior will take advantage of any opportunity.

	Credit: Autostock

"It was a fortunate opportunity for us to gain some points on him last week, unfortunate for him and a couple of his teammates," Earnhardt Jr. said of Kenseth's engine failure last week. "But we're going to need a lot more of the same thing to be able to gain on him in the points, and numerically, we're still in the mix.

"But we don't sit there every week and wait for Matt to blow up or smash into the wall. We run our race and try to beat the guys that we're out there racing with and gain as many points on whoever it may be. You've got Jimmie and the 29 car and a couple of other guys up there that we're racing for point positions, and they all pay pretty good themselves. You have to think about all those things too."

Leffler loves Kansas

Jason Leffler clearly likes qualifying at Kansas Speedway. In his first Winston Cup race here two years ago, Leffler put Chip Ganassi's car on the pole. Friday, Leffler qualified the No. 0 Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet in sixth.

"I've always loved coming here to Kansas," Leffler said. "There's a lot of great race fans here, and I have to thank Tony Furr and everybody at NetZero, Pontiac and Hendrick Engines. You can't do it without the horsepower. It's going to be a good starting spot for us, and I'm looking forward to Sunday."

Fast day for Green, No. 43 team

If Jeff Green keeps running like this, Petty Enterprises will have a hard time going back to Christian Fittipaldi. Green has finished in the top 20 in both races he's driven the No. 43 Dodge, and while that doesn't sound like much, it's a marked improvement from the car's previous drivers.

	Jeff Green

John Andretti finished in the top 20 four times in the 14 races he was in the car, while Fittipaldi has yet to finish higher than 24th.

Green will be in the No. 43 on a race-to-race basis for the remainder of the season, with Fittipaldi driving the No. 44 in select races. The idea was to keep one guy in the 43 to maintain consistency.

So far, so good. He qualified ninth Friday.

"We're pleased with that lap," Green said. "We don't have anything to fall back on. We've got to do it. These guys have been bringing me great race cars since I've been in this car.

"This is my third weekend. They're going to have a hard time running me off -- Richard, Kyle and all of the guys. Everybody at Petty Enterprises really supports Jeff Green, and that's what it takes to put a team together. Hopefully, we can keep that going.

"It makes it a lot more fun for me. I'm sure it's a lot more fun for these guys. We've just been in the right place at the right time. ... This Cheerios Dodge is really, really handling well and driving really good. So, I'm looking forward to tomorrow's race practice, and I think we'll have a really good Sunday."

Ince takes leave from MBV

James Ince, crew chief for Johnny Benson, has taken an indefinite leave from the MBV Motorsports tea, to take care of "family matters." Ince did not travel with the team to Kansas and will be replaced on an interim basis by car chief Jay Guy.

But it should have been 101

Kevin Harvick will make his 100th Winston Cup start from the 24th starting spot in Sunday's race.

"Yeah, it should be 101, but I got thrown out one week," said Harvick, referring to the race at Martinsville Speedway last year when he was suspended. It's pretty cool. It doesn't take long to get to 100."

Raines bounces back from practice crash

Matt Kenseth wasn't the only guy to crash in practice Friday. Tony Raines had a plug come out of the oil pump, causing oil to spew on the track. Raines slid in it and smacked the outside wall in Turn 1.

"It blew an oil plug out of the oil pump and oiled down the entire engine bay so it wouldn't turn, and it wouldn't slow down and it hit the wall pretty hard," Raines said. "Other than that, it was pretty uneventful."

Raines' BACE Motorsports backup car turned a solid lap, and Raines qualified for the race in 35th.