NASCAR Shoot! Earnhardt Jr. could be closer

The driver made up ground with a victory Sunday, but he still needs more.
AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- Suddenly, the 25 points Dale Earnhardt Jr. lost for uttering a vulgarity during a live TV interview are looming very large indeed.
Junior came up with a big victory Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway, leaping from fifth to third in the NASCAR Nextel Cup standings. With only two races remaining, he trails series leader Kurt Busch by 47 points and second-place Jeff Gordon by six.
Restore the points that Earnhardt was docked for his slip of the tongue after his previous win, Oct. 3 at Talladega, and he would be only 22 points off the pace.
Although he admits he watched his language after his latest victory -- the 15th of his career -- Junior really hasn't given much thought to the lost points. After all, he points out, even with those 25 points, Earnhardt would still be behind Busch.
It's academic
"Well, being in second still ain't first, so it really doesn't matter," Earnhardt said after outdueling Gordon at the end Sunday. "I'm not going to dwell on that."
In fact, Earnhardt figures those missing points could be a PR plus if he doesn't go on to win the championship.
"We all have our secret agendas," he said, grinning. "It would be great exposure for my team and my sponsor if we do lose the championship by less than 25 points. That will give us all kinds of exposure, I guess, through the winter -- probably more than winning the championship."
Joking aside, though, Earnhardt -- who trailed Busch by 98 points before Sunday -- figured he would need to win at least two of the last three races to have any shot at taking his first Cup title.
So far, so good.
"All we can do is race," Earnhardt said. "We came here and tried to win. We won. That's great. We go on to the next race and do the same.
"But I don't worry about it too much. I don't feel any pressure going into these last two races. We've already had things like the penalty and the mistake I made last week," he added, referring to crashing late in the Atlanta race and turning what looked like a sure top-five finish into 33rd place.
This was Earnhardt's second straight victory on the 1-mile Phoenix oval, but he has never won at Darlington or Homestead, sites of the final two events.
"We've got an opportunity, but I'm not going to get all worked up about it," Junior said. "We're just going to try to race smart and finish good. There is too much going on. So we'll just race each lap at Darlington next Sunday and get out of there. We'll know after Darlington what kind of opportunity we've got at Homestead."
Busch's comment
Reminded how much closer Earnhardt would be if not for the 25-point penalty, Busch said, "We would still have the advantage. It really isn't of much relevance right now and I hope that after Homestead we still have that advantage.
"Obviously, they've got to catch us," Busch added. "We're in the best position to continue to move forward. They have to reach out and gain positions and take advantage of other people sliding around on the track and put their car in awkward positions."
Meanwhile, Earnhardt expects the questions about those lost points to continue.
"It's not my place to tell anybody to let it go," Junior said. "People are going to talk about it. I should consider myself lucky that people are so concerned about it. I shouldn't really complain."