Notebook: Eighth-place run fuels Earnhardt's optimism

LOUDON, N.H. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. finally had reason to smile.

No, he wasn't contending for the win in Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but he left the Magic Mile with a feeling that the No. 88 Chevrolet's program is finally headed in the right direction.

"I think it is a good start to a turning point," said Earnhardt, who finished eighth after starting 31st and moved tantalizingly close to the top 12 in the Cup Series standings. "I like running here, and I traditionally feel like I am a top-10 here every time I show up.

"The car was really fast at the start of the race. The first run not so good, but the second run, we really got going. We started adjusting on it, and we just lost that little pep it had that drove it up to the top 10. But, it was still good enough to hang on. But we kept skipping back and forth over the balance of the car from tight to loose on those last couple of adjustments. Just couldn't get the car like it was when it was really good right before the middle of the race."

Earnhardt is 13th in the standings, three points behind 12th-place Carl Edwards.

"I was real glad the car ran good," Earnhardt said. "The car was excellent the first half of the race, and then we sort of struggled with it the last half of the race, but we still had a good finish. It still was a competitive car. We're real proud of our run [Sunday], and it's a good move for us in the points."

Roush woes continue

Top to bottom, the four Fords in the Roush Fenway Racing organization continued to struggle with their speed and handling.

The problems were magnified by a 201-lap green flag run at Loudon, during which all four Roush cars went at least one lap down. Though Greg Biffle regained a lap with a free pass under the final caution, the Roush cars finished 16th (Biffle), 17th (Matt Kenseth), 20th (David Ragan) and 25th (Carl Edwards).

Uncharacteristically, team owner Jack Roush left pit road and headed for his motor coach before the race was over. He met there with Ford officials before leaving the track.

Emblematic of the Roush issues was an exchange between Edwards and crew chief Bob Osborne after Edwards lost a lap.

"What are you thinking, Bob?" Edwards asked.

"I'm thinking we're screwed," Osborne replied.

Bad break

Kasey Kahne led more laps than any driver at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

He would have traded them all to finish the race.

Kahne's stellar early performance Sunday collapsed with about 95 laps left when his No. 9 Ford experienced engine trouble. Kahne, who led 110 laps, was running third when his car woes hit and he started sliding back in the field (watch video).

Kahne hung in there until the engine finally blew with 65 laps left, pouring oil on the track and bringing out the caution. The caution ended 201 consecutive laps of green flag racing.

He expected the engine to last.

"When you put it on the track, they're not supposed to break," he said. "It's probably just something small inside that happened, but when we brought it here, we had no idea that it would break. It's ready. It's prepared."

Kahne was already a long shot at making the Chase. He fell to 20th in the standings and is all but out of contention for a spot in the 12-driver field with nine races left before it's set.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.