Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Earnhardt Jr. hopes he has time for one last push

THE NUMBERS

Tuesday, July 5, 2005 | 9:10 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. made a modest move in the right direction with his third-place finish in Saturday's Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway, but he was not ready to proclaim a turnaround in an admittedly disappointing season.

"We're on the bottom of the rope -- just hanging on -- and we don't have much further to slide before it's over with," said Earnhardt, who is 16th in NASCAR Nextel Cup points with nine races remaining in NASCAR's "regular season."

The top 10 drivers and those within 400 points of the leader after 26 races will be eligible for the "Chase for the Nextel Cup." Earnhardt currently sits 506 points behind front-runner Jimmie Johnson and 158 points out of 10th place.

Because his run came at Daytona -- the site of his only other top-three finish of the season -- and in a restrictor-plate race, Earnhardt said it is too soon to tell whether he can carry the momentum from Saturday's finish into the upcoming races.

"They say you carry momentum," Earnhardt said. "I don't know if that's a possibility or not, but we'll see what we can rack here in the next couple of weeks and try to close the gap on 10th place.

"This (finish) obviously helps and more runs like this would help, but I understand this is Daytona and there aren't any more Daytonas and Talladegas before the Chase. We have to work really hard to gain ground on these other tracks (where) we haven't had success yet this year."

The Nextel Cup Series is in Chicago this weekend for Sunday's USG Sheetrock 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. In four career starts at the 1.5-mile speedway, Earnhardt's best finish is 10th in 2002.

TRADING PLACES: After 17 races, it appears as if Penske/Jasper Racing did not improve its No. 77 team by dumping Brendan Gaughan of Las Vegas in favor of Travis Kvapil.

Gaughan, who was dismissed as driver of the No. 77 Dodge at the end of the 2004 season, was 29th in points with one top-10 and five top-20 finishes through 17 races last season.

Kvapil, who replaced Gaughan, is 30th in points with one top-10 and five top-20 finishes in 17 races.

AT THE BULLRING: Tom Lovelady won his second Super Late Models main event of the season Sunday night at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Rick Rogas (Legends Masters/Pro), Bear Rzesnowiecky (Legends Semi-Pro), Don Williams (IMCA Modifieds), Justin Good (Chargers), Matt Ross (Thunder Roadsters) and Vinny Raucci (Bullring Bombers) also were main-event winners.