Dale Earnhardt Jr. "I had a terrible racecar [Sunday] and I'm glad it's over with." Credit: AP

Junior admits the Chase now pipe dream for No. 8

'I knew when the race started it'd be a miracle to get a top-10'

INDIANAPOLIS -- Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s recent surge toward Chase qualification may have officially ended Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"I ain't no fortune teller, but it ain't looking good," Earnhardt said. "It'll take something extraordinary to make the Chase for us at this point."

	Inside the Numbers Dale Jr. at Indianapolis Year Start Finish 2005 27 43 2004 5 27 2003 36 14 2002 3 22 2001 36 10 2000 6 13 Average 18.8 21.5

Earnhardt was struggling along near the back of the pack Sunday in the Allstate 400 when, on a Lap 61 restart, the field bunched up behind leader Casey Mears -- and in front of Earnhardt.

To elude the cars stacking up ahead, Earnhardt swerved and was tapped in the rear by Mike Skinner, sending the No. 8 Chevrolet head-on into the inside retaining wall.

He finished 43rd and dropped two positions in the championship standings to 16th.

"We were all in line," Earnhardt Jr. said. "The guys in front of me went, I went, then they stopped and I tried to stop, pulled out to let the guy behind me have that outside line in case he couldn't get slowed down enough and he hooked me in the right rear and sent me into the inside wall."

Among those caught up in the melee was Earnhardt's teammate, Martin Truex Jr.

"It's unfortunate, we got two of our cars crashed," said Truex, who won the Busch Series event Saturday night at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

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"I was having a lot of fun out there. That's it. I couldn't see anything really, just cars stopping.

"I tried to stop and go out by the wall and Junior come back across right in front of me. Wrong place, wrong time."

Earnhardt's primary frustration wasn't the accident. It was the performance of his racecar.

"I had a terrible racecar [Sunday] and I'm glad it's over with," he said. "We tested real good, and we came here and we been junk. And it's frustrating when the car don't drive right.

"I was in the back and trying to work on it every pit stop and get it better. We did all we could do. Can't help circumstances like that.

"We can't bring cars like this to the racetrack. I knew when the race started it'd be a miracle to get a top-10 with that car. As long as we're bringing cars like that to the racetrack, that's where we're going to finish."

This marks just the third time in his career that Earnhardt has finished 43rd. The others came at New Hampshire in July 1999 and North Carolina Speedway in Feb. 2001.