Dale Earnhardt Jr. snapped a three-race slump with a fourth-place finish at Bristol. Credit: Autostock

Short tracks are salve to Junior's early-season ailments

Things got better for Dale Earnhardt Jr. last weekend at Bristol. If history is to be believed, things may get a whole lot better this weekend at Martinsville.

On the heels of a fourth-place run at Thunder Valley, Junior heads to a track on which he's has five top-fives in his past six starts.

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Still, despite leading 452 laps at Martinsville, Junior is still searching for his first win there. He knows a strong run on the tight turns of Nextel Cup racing's smallest track is anything but a foregone conclusion.

"Short-track racing is like walking through a minefield. You have to watch every move and be completely aware of what's going on around you," he said. "You can get bit by a lot of things you didn't have anything to do with starting."

A successful test at Martinsville last week has given Junior confidence -- and a choice to make.

"You can choose to run fast through the middle of the corner and then not get as strong an exit off the turns, or you can choose to hustle it into the turns, slow up in the middle and then try to get a straight run off the corners," he said.

Earnhardt is leaning toward the former.

"I like to think it's better on a long run to work on making the car turn in the middle, but you risk having guys trying to be aggressive and dive-bomb you going into the corners."

Fortunately for him and his fans, Junior expects more than a few similarties between this weekend and last.

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"It seems like there's usually a few long green-flag runs at Martinsville, and I've always been lucky enough to take advantage of having a car that is better on the long runs," he said.

"We even saw that at Bristol -- we were better after 40 laps or so of green-flag racing. We really needed the last 100 laps to stay green to close in on those boys at the front."

Speaking of closing in, Earnhardt Jr. suddenly finds himself back in contention for the season championship. His second top-five of the season has moved him to 17th in the series standings, 84 points behind 10th-place Mark Martin.

Still, if Junior is to continue his climb back to the top 10, his crew will have to be on top of its game Sunday.

"The flat corners make it essential for the crew to make the right changes all day long," he said. "You can't rely on high-banked corners to catch the car."

But it's not all bad.

"I like it because the driver can have more impact, knowing when to hustle the car or to take care of your equipment," Junior said.

He's taken care of being solid at Martinsville, but he's expecting more Sunday.

"We've been good here the last few years, but I want to improve that string of top-five finishes and get a win at this place," he said.