Earnhardt won’t give up chase

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- It’s not looking good for the Red Army.

With four races left to determine who makes NASCAR’s Chase for the Nextel Cup playoff, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is in serious danger of missing the show.

The top 12 drivers in points qualify for the Chase, but Earnhardt -- whose legion of fans wear red to match the car color of the sport’s most popular driver -- is 14th in the standings and running out of time.

He’s 100 points behind Kurt Busch of Penske Racing, who sits on the bubble in 12th. Busch teammate Ryan Newman is 13th, 96 points behind Busch.

But as the series arrives for Sunday’s 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway, Earnhardt, 32, rejects the notion that his No. 8 Chevrolet can’t make the 10-race Chase that decides the championship.

“I’m sure some people are gonna write us off for the Chase after our problems at Watkins Glen” in New York last Sunday, where he finished 42nd out of 43 cars because of engine failure, Earnhardt said.

“But I think it’s foolish to do so,” said Earnhardt, who next year is moving to Hendrick Motorsports and will be getting a new car number. “We have four races coming up at four tracks where we’ve been very, very good lately.”

Earnhardt has never won here in 16 attempts but has won the pole twice (in 2000 and 2002), and his best finish was third in the June race last year. (The Cup series races here twice each season.)

But it won’t be easy unseating Busch, who won two weeks ago at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway and won on the Michigan track in 2003.

After Michigan, the final three races to determine the Chase lineup are at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, California Speedway in Fontana on Sept. 2 and Richmond (Va.) International Raceway.

Michigan is a sweeping two-mile oval and a good setup for Fontana, which was built in the mid-1990s to replicate the Michigan track when they were both owned by Roger Penske. The tracks are now owned by International Speedway Corp.

The Cup drivers will drive their conventional cars at both of those tracks, while using the new Car of Tomorrow at Bristol and Richmond. The safer, boxier Car of Tomorrow will be used full time next year.

Newman, 29, also is hungry to make the Chase after missing the playoff last year. The Indiana native -- who won eight races in 2003, and is a two-time winner at Michigan -- hasn’t been to Victory Lane since winning at New Hampshire nearly two years ago.

His team’s performance has been “way better than last year,” even if “our finishes, our consistency, hasn’t been the greatest,” he said. “We’ve got some work ahead of us.”

The other longshot is Greg Biffle, the Roush Fenway Racing driver who is 15th in the standings, 212 points behind Busch.

His teammate, Matt Kenseth, who is third in points and safely in the Chase, is the defending winner of Sunday’s race. Kasey Kahne of Gillett Evernham Motorsports won the June race here in 2006.

Chad McCumbee was chosen to replace Kyle Petty in Sunday’s race after Petty broke his hand following the race at Watkins Glen.

Frustrated after a collision knocked his No. 45 Dodge out of the race, Petty, 47, broke his right hand when he slammed it on a door inside his hauler. Petty’s team said he is expected to return for Bristol next week.

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james.peltz@latimes.com