Junior tries to make strides to end two-year drought

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- How unbelievable is Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s two-year victory drought? Since Junior visited Michigan International Speedway's Victory Lane after winning the 2008 LifeLock 400 -- 71 races ago -- no fewer than 19 other Sprint Cup drivers have won races, including 11 who have multiple victories.

In that time period, Junior's three Hendrick teammates have combined for 22 victories. The man he replaced, Kyle Busch, has won 10 races. Tony Stewart has won races for two separate operations. And the driver Junior hired to pilot his Nationwide team has a Cup victory under his belt.

But for a multitude of reasons, Dale Earnhardt Jr. remains winless. For a driver who had won 18 races and never had fewer than seven top-five finishes in a season since his rookie year, Earnhardt's lack of success is almost unparalleled. Since that race here in 2008, Junior has just six top-five finishes,13 top-10s and has led in only 22 races.

In fact, after qualifying 27th for Sunday's Heluva Good! 400, Junior admitted to reporters the anniversary hadn't even crossed his mind until it was brought up to Mark Martin. Martin tried to put Junior's frustration into perspective.

"It is really, really hard to win in this series, no matter how well you run," Martin said. "Just look at how well Jeff Gordon has run the first half of the season without getting a win. It is just amazing. I think it's underestimated by so many people how difficult it is to win these races and how little things interrupt.

"They have run good enough to win some races last year and they've run well in some races this year, many of them have been foiled by one little issue here, one little issue there. They are dug in and Dale Earnhardt Jr. is driving, in my eyes, he's driving harder than any race car driver out there. I can see it clear as day how bad he wants it when I'm on the race track with him. All the stars just haven't lined up to work out yet."

Earnhardt agreed, and said his struggles are definitely not from lack of effort. In fact, he's glad that his teammates can see how hard the team is working to get back to Victory Lane. One of those in his corner is Johnson.

"Man, I see great progress within their team," Johnson said. "I see race weekends where they are fast at different times and think it is time for them to win a race and break through and end that streak. I'm not inside their team enough to know exactly what all goes on, but I know he feels and knows that it is time.

"That has been well-documented with getting excited on the radio and the drive from the team, their level and how hard they are pushing to get to Victory Lane. As a teammate and a friend, I am hopeful that happens very soon for them and I know that they are working hard."

Earnhardt said the car was good in Friday's practice, but when rain washed away the accumulated rubber and the track became hot and slippery, he struggled to find the same speed in qualifying.

"We worked on the car in race trim when we first got here and felt like we had a really good car, but there was really a lot of grip in the track in the morning," Earnhardt said. "I like the balance of the car. We went into qualifying trim and ran an OK lap but the car wasn't glued and gripped up into the race track like it had been, like it normally feels in qualifying trim.

"It actually felt better in race trim than in qualifying trim. We went out there and ran just now and it really was about the same. It wasn't very good. But it felt like what we unloaded [Friday] morning felt pretty good to me."

The No. 88 Chevrolet team attempted to make strides in Saturday's practices. In the morning session, he was 12th-quickest with a fast lap of 183.421 mph, although Earnhardt dropped back to 19th in Happy Hour, complaining about inconsistent handling throughout the practice.

All 43 cars got on the track during the final 60 minutes of practice, with Johnson leading the way with a best lap of 183.795 mph. He was followed by Paul Menard, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick.

Clint Bowyer was forced to his backup after roughing up the right side of his primary.