Earnhardt Jr. confident after strong run

Monday, June 19, 2006
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RICK KIMBALL

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is looking forward to racing at more of NASCAR's sweeping ovals later this season after a top finish at Michigan International Speedway Sunday.

Earnhardt Jr. has generally struggled at the 2-mile Michigan oval, but he turned his fortunes in the rain-shortened 3M Performance 400 Sunday afternoon, finishing third.

Not only did this allow him to advance two spots in the standings to fourth - he now sits 275 points off leader Jimmie Johnson's pace - but it also gave the team a confidence boost.

"This is a moral victory for me and [crew chief] Tony [Eury] Jr.," Earnhardt Jr. said after the race. "It's like a personal victory for us because we've never had a car that good here, and it makes us really excited about coming back again and about going to tracks like Chicagoland, where we will be just as good. We've found some things, and I think we've really turned the corner."

Prior to the Michigan race, Earnhardt Jr. had no top-five finishes in 14 career starts at the track.

The Nextel Cup circuit moves next to Sunday's Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway, a road course where Earnhardt Jr. has never scored a top-10 finish.

Mentioned Drivers: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

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2009 Sprint Cup Race for the Chase Standings

Driver Standings after the AMP Energy 500

1 Jimmie Johnson 6248
2 Mark Martin -184
3 Jeff Gordon -192
4 Juan Pablo Montoya -239
5 Tony Stewart -279
6 Kurt Busch -312
7 Greg Biffle -340
8 Ryan Newman -402
9 Kasey Kahne -414
10 Carl Edwards -437
11 Denny Hamlin -448
12 Brian Vickers -556

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