MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- It didn't take long for Dale Earnhardt Jr. to find trouble Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.

He was reminded of it often, too -- like every time he shifted gears in his No. 88 Chevrolet. From Lap 43 on in the 500-lap Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500, Earnhardt's shifter was held together by a bungee cord.

“

Hopefully, we can find what the problem is, because we damn sure don't need that happenin'.

”

DALE EARNHARDT JR.

When it first popped out of gear on him he fell all the way to 38th in the 43-car field after getting it, um, fixed. He appeared to be looking at a long day that likely would be punctuated by a poor finish he could ill afford.

Instead, Earnhardt maintained his composure and told his team over the radio, "I can deal with it. Let's just work on getting some of this track position back and I'll take care of everything else."

Earnhardt battled all the way back until he was running third at one point before settling for an eighth-place finish in the race won by his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson.

When it was suggested afterward that at least maybe Earnhardt salvaged a good racing story out of the day, along with his top-10 finish, he laughed and replied: "Yeah, well, but it ain't nothin' I ain't heard before."

That's because it wasn't the first time this season his day has hinged on the sinewy threads of a bungee cord.

"I was calm because we've had it happen before, and I knew we could get a bungee cord on it," Earnhardt said. "I just hated to lose all that track position. I knew we were going to have to put that bungee cord on there and lose a bunch of track position in the process. That hurt us pretty bad. But we were able to get something out of it."

Earnhardt remains a long way from where he would like to be this season, but by salvaging the eighth-place finish he at least continued a climb in the point standings that has been steady since he began the season by finishing 27th and 39th, respectively, in the first two races. (Continued)