Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s No. 8 Chevy shows heavy damage after his spin early in the race. Credit: CIA Stock Photo

Dale Jr.'s bad luck continues at Sonoma

SONOMA, Calif. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s road to the Chase has been filled with landmines, and one of them exploded under him on Sunday.

Namely, his transmission.

After finishing a devastating 42nd at Sonoma -- his second 42nd-place finish this year -- Earnhardt is 18th in the points, 216 points behind 10th-place Jamie McMurray.

	Credit: CIA Stock Photo
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Earnhardt has led five laps this season. At this point least year, he'd led 563 laps. His totals for top-fives and top-10s have been sliced by more than half.

He might have had a top-10 on Sunday in the Dodge/Save Mart 350. He had qualified well and had practiced well all weekend; but in the end, it was a new transmission that ruined his day.

The gears in Earnhardt's car failed from the start. On the opening lap, he lost first and second gear. On the second lap, the box failed completely, and his Chevy made contact with Mike Bliss, sending it into the outside wall.

"It finally went out completely at the end of the first lap," Earnhardt said. "I was kind of overwhelmed because there was so much traffic around me, and I was just trying not to hit anybody."

His team cut off the rear of his car and replaced his transmission, and he reentered the race 14 laps down.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. hits the wall hard on Lap 2 at Infineon Sign up for TrackPass now and earn Fan Miles BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

Dale Jr. insists that he is still upbeat. Fortunately, the tour heads to Daytona next weekend, were he finished a season-high third in February.

"I'm actually leaving [Sonoma] without too much disappointment because we were really fast," he said. "I knew after the practice sessions yesterday that was a car that was capable of winning."

The team hasn't had a top-10 finish in six weeks. This is the first time in three years he's gone a month and half without a top-10 run.

This finish couldn't be blamed on tires, unlike Pocono, where he finished 33rd after experiencing multiple problems.

"I'm just frustrated that we put ourselves in this position. We are in control of this," Earnhardt Jr. said. "We need to not make these mistakes."