For Earnhardt, slow pace of improvement continues (cont'd)

"I just want to make it clear, I guess, that the decision is Rick's and his management team. I like working with Lance. I get along great with Lance. We have had some great runs, and I feel like I can build on that type of success and have it happen more often, more consistently with Lance. And I hope that we're successful the rest of the year and that we go into next season with the same group of guys," he said.

“

I've always felt like I belong in the upper percentage of our sport, and when you don't perform that way, it's definitely tough on you.

”

-- DALE EARNHARDT JR.

"But the decision isn't mine, and never will be mine. So I hope that we'll have more success and continue to give Rick and the people that do make those types of decisions good reason to keep us as a team and keep us working together, because I really do enjoy working with him. I feel like I'm a different race car driver than I've been the last several years, just my temperament and my disposition throughout the races and the weekend.

"I still have to check myself every once in a while. I get a little angry, but just during practice and stuff when something you do to these cars can frustrate you. But for the most part, Lance is really great at controlling the situation and controlling our team and directing our team throughout the weekend and the races themselves. I've enjoyed the experience working with him."

At Hendrick, rebuilding Earnhardt's team has proven an organization-wide effort. McGrew has dedicated engineers and team executives at his disposal. Earnhardt and his crew chief have been studying the characteristics of the cars of teammates Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, and Jeff Gordon -- all of whom are in the Chase -- trying to figure out what makes them fast and how to apply that to the No. 88.

Ideally, it would be Earnhardt providing his title-hunting teammates with help to win the championship. But given the size of the mountain he's trying to climb, the flow of information has mostly been in the other direction.

"You'd love to be able to go out on the race track and be quick and provide them with ideas, because they're trying to win a championship. And if I could help them on any given weekend, that would be one of the better accomplishments to these last 10 races for our team, aside from winning," he said. "But we're still sort of trying to find speed, so we're still leaning on them quite a bit as we have been the last several months trying to get our program to where it's more consistent. And we have yet to really improve on anything they've been doing, we've just been trying to get that in itself to provide us with some more consistency and better performance."