A Pivotal Race for Earnhardt

If Dale Earnhardt Jr. is feeling pressure to get back into NASCAR’s title chase, he’s not about to show it.

Only the top 10 drivers in points after 26 races qualify for the “Chase for the Nextel Cup,” NASCAR’s version of a playoff in which the group competes for the championship the last 10 races of the season.

Three weeks ago, Earnhardt was third in points and comfortably in the chase. Then his No. 8 Chevrolet had consecutive last-place finishes at New Hampshire and Pocono.

Now, with six races left to decide the top 10, Earnhardt stands 11th in points entering Sunday’s Allstate 400 at the Brickyard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

If Earnhardt fails to make the Chase, it would be the second consecutive year that NASCAR’s most popular driver would be a lame duck as the season reaches it climax. He was 19th in points last year.

But Earnhardt, 31, said he feels no need to panic.

“I genuinely don’t feel a strain or any kind of stress about it,” he said Friday after the first of two practice sessions on Indy’s 2.5-mile oval. “I know there are people depending on me, and that’s a little different.

“When I was in high school, I had severe ulcers, so I had to change how I handled stress,” Earnhardt said. “I just try to relax and do the best job I can.”

Whether Earnhardt can get back into contention at the Brickyard is an open question.

His best finish in six races at Indianapolis was a 10th in 2001; last year he finished last in the 43-car field after an accident on Lap 62 of the 160-lap, 400-mile race.

“I feel pretty good, my car’s pretty quick and drives really nice,” he said. “We also tested really good, so I’m pumped up about our opportunity.”

Earnhardt suffered a blown engine at New Hampshire, and was knocked out at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania after a bump from Dave Blaney sent him into the wall.

When Earnhardt was asked if those problems showed how quickly a driver can fall out of the chase, he politely replied: “I don’t really need no reminders. That’s the way the sport is.

“You take your lumps along the way, that’s the way life is,” he said. “It’s frustrating but it’s just the way it works out sometimes.”

Points leader Jimmie Johnson said the drivers trying to break into the top 10 would be pressing over the next six races.

“It’s that time of year when it’s going to get real dicey,” said Johnson, the El Cajon native who drives for Hendrick Motorsports. Asked if his rivals would take more chances, he said, “I definitely think so.”

But Earnhardt said: “I don’t really look too far ahead for the most part, it’s really not my style. I try to take it one week at a time. Hopefully that’s a good strategy.”

He also noted that he’s not the only popular Cup driver in danger of missing the chase.

Jeff Gordon, a four-time winner of the Brickyard race and the Cup, is ninth in points. Defending Brickyard winner and reigning series champion Tony Stewart is 10th, a scant 15 points ahead of Earnhardt.

“Right now, me and the top two guys in the sport are right there, beating for a spot” in the chase, Earnhardt said. “That’s got to be pretty exciting.”

Earnhardt posted the 18th fastest speed in practice Friday, and Kurt Busch of Penske Racing South was first in his Dodge with an average speed of 182.039 mph. Qualifying for the race is today.