Return to Michigan has Earnhardt feeling positive

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- One year ago, all the pieces seemed in place. Dale Earnhardt Jr. coasted home on fumes to win at Michigan International Speedway and snap a 76-race winless skid. He and crew chief Tony Eury Jr. had a strong position in the standings and a solid handle on the new Sprint Cup car. All the promise and potential that his move to Hendrick Motorsports held appeared to be coming to fruition.

2008 Flashback

Relive Dale Earnhardt Jr's first victory for Hendrick Motorsports last year at Michigan.

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And yet here he is, once again at Michigan in the springtime, and once again trying to put the pieces together. Given all that Earnhardt has been through over the past year -- from finishing last in the Chase, to getting off to a slow start this year, to having his crew chief reassigned -- that skid-busting victory on the 2-mile oval last June seems a very long time ago. And yet, NASCAR's most popular driver feels that familiar old burst of confidence just by walking through the gates.

It helps that Earnhardt is continuing to build on his relationship with new crew chief Lance McGrew, who succeeded Eury two weeks ago at Dover. It helps that he has a good car, which was second-fastest behind Hendrick teammate Mark Martin in Saturday's final practice for the LifeLock 400. It helps that everyone associated with the No. 88 program can see little glimpses of progress.

"The communication with the team is good. Lance is doing a great job. All of the other guys on the road crew have stepped up, and what that means to me is, when I come in here and I can see the different disposition on everyone's face, I'm more positive about what kind of lap time I'm going to get ready to run in the car," said Earnhardt, who will start 30th in Sunday's event.

"Lance and I have been talking during the week about everything that comes to mind, and having consistent discussions to try to understand where each of us is at, what our opinion and attitude is. I think it just feels like this should be turning around and should begin to work, and I feel confidence. It gives me confidence. I know that in this sport, you can be great one day and not so great the next. We ran really, really bad and it was very frustrating during the race last week, but even though I didn't know at the time what had went wrong with the car, even at the end of the race I said I still see a lot of positive things happening with the team and feel good about Lance." (Continued)