NASCAR Earnhardt is enjoying breakthrough season

He has been more consistent and has a shot at runner-up in the standings.
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. is growing into his reputation as a Winston Cup fan favorite.
Billed as a sure thing when he followed his father, Dale Earnhardt, to NASCAR's top series, Junior has the adulation of the fans, a big-dollar deal with Budweiser and the resources of a top team in Dale Earnhardt Inc.
What has slowed his career -- until this season -- has been a lack of consistency.
"We thought we were going to come in here and do so much better that first year," Little E said, "and we really set ourselves up for such an upset and such a disappointment."
Coming to the Cup series after winning consecutive Busch Series titles in 1998 and 1999, Dale Jr. won two races and finished 16th in the points -- a fine rookie season but not what was expected.
Breakthrough
He followed with three wins and eighth place in 2001, then slipped back to two wins and 11th in the points last year. But this season has been a breakthrough for Earnhardt and his team.
Earnhardt, 29, has won only once going into today's Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway, but has 11 top-5 and 18 top-10 finishes in 31 races and is third in the season points with five races remaining.
"We've worked and worked and improved little by little, and I feel like we're really gaining in areas where we need to be gaining," he said.
Earnhardt, who had driven with only a handshake agreement for the team founded by his late father, showed his confidence in the future of DEI earlier this month when he agreed to a five-year contract.
"I feel like I'm with a team that can make things happen and win championships," Junior said. "One of the things that I based my decision to stay around on was whether they could win the championships that I wanted to win."
Eyes second place
Trailing series leader Matt Kenseth by 324 points, the 2003 championship is probably out of reach. But second-place Kevin Harvick is only 57 points ahead and Earnhardt would love to catch him.
"I'd like to beat Kevin for second and I would like to close on Matt, but he's going to have to have a disastrous last several races, and I don't see that coming," Earnhardt said. "We've got some guys that are real close behind us, too, and we could finish as low as sixth or seventh place in the points, so we have to be very careful not to make any foolish mistakes and be pretty aggressive at the same time."
Earnhardt will start third today behind pole-winner Jeff Gordon and Ward Burton.
So far, Earnhardt's resume on short tracks -- shorter than 1 mile -- includes only one win, in 2000 at Richmond. But his last three starts on the tight .526-mile Martinsville oval have produced finishes of fifth, fourth and a strong third in April.
Earnhardt is confident of another solid showing today.
"We've improved our car a whole lot, learned a lot of things that we weren't doing that other teams were, and that has us up to speed and competitive," he said.