Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Earnhardt Jr. not reaching for the panic button yet

Tuesday, June 7, 2005 | 9:45 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.

The NASCAR Nextel Cup Series is halfway through its 26-race "regular season" and Dale Earnhardt Jr. is 15th in the standings.

At this point in the 2004 season, Earnhardt had three victories and was leading the Nextel Cup points standings. Going into Sunday's race at Pocono Raceway, Earnhardt has yet to win a race this season and is 418 points out of first place.

Although only the top 10 drivers (and those within 400 points of the leader after 26 races) qualify for the 10-race "Chase for the Nextel Cup," Earnhardt said it is too soon to panic.

"As much as we've struggled, we're 15th and still less than 100 points from sixth," Earnhardt said. "I feel like we can make that up pretty quick; (we) just need a couple good races here the next two or three weeks and we'll be right back in it.

"We don't think week-to-week; we're thinking long term. We're trying to do what's best for our race team and what gives us the best chances of getting into the Chase for the Championship."

In 10 career starts at Pocono, Earnhardt has four finishes of sixth or better, including a career-best second-place finish in 2001. Last year, he finished sixth in the June race.

Sadler, who finished 41st Sunday at Dover International Speedway, qualified for eight of 13 races this season and was 40th in drivers points.

"I appreciate the opportunity given to me at Peak Performance Motorsports, but I feel at this time it is best that I step aside and allow the team to search for the combination that will help it improve," Sadler said in a prepared statement.

Team owner Jeff Stec will make an announcement this week about the team's plans for this weekend's race at Pocono.

The finish allowed Busch to move from 10th to eighth in the Nextel Cup standings and extended his streak to 48 consecutive races in the top 10 in points -- the longest active streak in the series.

When Gaughan released his 18-race schedule this season, the first Texas race was not on the schedule. Gaughan, who has won four consecutive races at TMS, elected to take his truck to Texas this weekend after a solid run Saturday at Dover.

Gaughan was running in the top 10 Saturday at Dover when he got collected by a spinning truck with eight laps to go. Gaughan finished 16th.

Dustin Ash (Late Models), Phil Goodwin (Chargers), Matt Ross (Thunder Roadsters), Don Williams (IMCA Modifieds) and Beau Hutchinson (Bandoleros) also won their main events Saturday night.