BROOKLYN, Mich. -- If it isn't time to start counting again, it's getting close.

When Dale Earnhardt Jr. won at the LifeLock 400 at Michigan International Speedway this past June, it broke a 76-race winless streak in points races that had stretched across more than two full years. The victory was greeted with a generous combination of relief and jubilation as Earnhardt scored his first career victory in the No. 88 Chevrolet he now drives for Hendrick Motorsports.

“

Starting here, we will start to see some improvement and start a run like we had been on at the start of the year. Like we are capable of doing.

”

DALE EARNHARDT JR.

But that was June, seven races ago.

OK, so some of us have started counting again, as unfair as that might seem. Such are the expectations when your last name is Earnhardt and you drive for the man named Hendrick.

"That is part of being in this sport, man," Earnhardt said Friday at MIS, just before he went out and qualified fourth for this Sunday's second race of the season at the track, the 3M Performance 400 (watch video). "You know, you have to live up to all expectations ... and you get paid a lot of money to do it."

Since winning the June race, Earnhardt hasn't lived up to expectations at all. In the seven races since, he has finished in the top 10 only once -- taking eighth in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona on July 5. He hasn't exactly been horrible in the other six races, finishing 12th three times. And he led a total of 122 laps in the seven races combined, leading at least one in five of them.

But his 22nd-place finish last weekend on the road course at Watkins Glen dropped him from second to fourth in points, and left much of the racing world wondering if his title hopes are beginning to slip away even before the Chase to the Sprint Cup commences.

Earnhardt's teammates at Hendrick Motorsports are quick to come to the defense of Junior and his cousin crew chief, Tony Eury Jr.

"They've been consistent all year long and continue to be consistent," Jeff Gordon said. "I would really like to see them -- as high up in the points as they've been at times -- I'd like to see them going out there ... leading more laps and being a little more dominant. But I really don't feel like they've lost anything."

Two-time defending points champion Jimmie Johnson said that it's obvious the No. 88 team isn't as sharp now as it appeared to be coming into the last Michigan race.

"I can say at the start of the season, Tony Jr. had a real good feel for what the setups needed to be at that point at the tracks we were going to," Johnson said. "As time has gone, this sport keeps changing. Everything is moving and shaking. We didn't have it [earlier], and we slowly have picked it up. Those guys had it early and are trying to get that going again."

Earnhardt insisted that he has struggled of late more because of the schedule than anything else. When the No. 88 team was more efficient earlier in the year, most of the Sprint Cup races were being held at tracks where he says he is more comfortable.

It showed as he registered a remarkable 11 top-10 finishes in the first 15 races, capped with the win at Michigan. That included seven top-five finishes as well.

"I figured the summer would be rough and it was," Earnhardt said. "I don't know why that is other than there aren't any favorite racetracks of mine in that little stretch. That's one thing I know for sure.

"I am looking forward to the last third of the season. We seem to do really well at all of those racetracks. ... Starting here, we will start to see some improvement and start a run like we had been on at the start of the year. Like we are capable of doing."

Johnson said Earnhardt has reason to be confident, as he likewise has found reasons to remain confident that his new teammate will get on another positive roll.

"It sounds odd when all the teams are in the same shop and that technology doesn't necessarily apply from one car to the other -- but driving styles, crew-chief styles, it all plays a part in it," Johnson added. "Those guys won't be down long. They have all the tools necessary.

"I have been extremely impressed with Tony and Dale Jr.'s commitment to the team, with the feel that Junior has had in that car. I didn't now what kind of teammate he would be like; he has blown the roof off of the expectations because he has such a really good feel for the car. You go up and down; you go through slumps and stuff happens. But those guys will be just fine."

Earnhardt said he has no doubts. But he would like to give all the doubters something to think about by winning again at Michigan this Sunday.

Last time he won on a fuel-mileage gamble. This time, he said, he would like to beat everyone because he has the best car and he drives it the fastest for the longest.

"It would be good to get another win here to show everybody we can do it on a full tank of gas," said Earnhardt, smiling.