Dale Earnhardt Jr. (shown here at Martinsville in April) has six straight top-10 finishes. Credit: Autostock

Dale Jr.'s goal: Catch Busch before Darlington

There are five races left in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

Earnhardt Jr. is 50 points ahead of third-place Jeff Gordon. Credit: Autostock

Dale Earnhardt Jr. says he only has three.

That's because Earnhardt Jr. knows he has to gain ground in the title chase before the series hits Darlington on Nov. 14.

He's arguably the best short-track driver on the circuit -- a win at Martinsville would give him a victory at all three of the bullrings this year -- and he's won at Atlanta and Phoenix within the last year.

But Darlington and Homestead make Earnhardt Jr. a little nervous, and for good reason, as he never got a handle on the new high-banked surface at Miami last year. He plans to remedy that with an intense two-day test session.

Darlington hasn't been a bad track for Earnhardt Jr., but in nine Cup races there, he's scored just one top-five finish there.

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Hence the "get it done now" mentality, especially after losing 25 points after Talladega. Especially with Kurt Busch running so well. Especially with four-time champion Jeff Gordon lurking one spot back in the standings.

"We need to go to Martinsville, Atlanta and Phoenix and run really good because the unknowns are Darlington, Homestead for us," Earnhardt Jr. said. "We don't have a history of strong runs at either of those two tracks.

"I need to go into these next three and be stellar."

Martinsville has been exactly that. Earnhardt Jr. has never won there, but his five straight top-five finishes is the longest such streak in the garage. He was third there this spring after leading 154 laps.

But that history might not matter much, because Martinsville repaved its antiquated surface over the summer. To get used to the new, smoother surface, DEI elected to go to Martinsville and burn one of its remaining tests.

"We just stayed there all day, I couldn't even begin to guess, but I ran a lot of laps, probably five or six 40-lap runs. We were out there on the track a lot," Earnhardt said. "I like it a lot. It has a lot of grip. They fixed the problems they had with the surface breaking up."

The bad thing about new surfaces, though, is that they tend to take awhile to break in, which leads to nose-to-tail racing.

"(The old surface) was very rough," Earnhardt Jr. said. "The new surface is very smooth with a lot of grip, hopefully we will be able to run side-by-side though, that is one of the things I really liked about the old surface.

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"When they ground the bottom, it allowed the upper groove to be almost the preferred line at some points of the race."

Is he worried the race will be a one-groove affair?

"Yeah, I am," Earnhardt Jr. said.

Martinsville is bound to have more grip. So should Darlington, which is running its 500-mile race in November after 50 years as summer mainstay.

The cooler temperatures might be good news for Junior, who has had much better success at Darlington in the (ie: cooler) springtime.

"Should be a little more grip there, which has always been an issue with me when it gets real, real hot," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I feel real confident.

"It's going to come down to the last race."