Dale Earnhardt Jr. Says He Doesn’t See Much Hope For Final Races Of 2010

“I wasn’t too happy in practice and it didn’t run very good in qualifying,” he said, his face revealing little emotion. “It’s just not fast. I don’t know. I like this track and I like getting around here, but when we put it in qualifying setup, it felt just like it did in race trim. It didn’t have that qualifying grip.”

That was disappointing, because as Earnhardt Jr. noted, he’s run fairly well on short tracks despite a drop-off in performance at intermediate tracks since mid-2008.

“I just come in here probably with more confidence, that I know I can get around here and know how to drive a car around here,” he said.

But when it was time to drive, the car didn’t suit his needs. That’s been a frequent pattern for the No. 88 team this year: The driver comes to a track where he’s had past success, but the team can’t deliver a car that helps Earnhardt Jr. go fast.

So what’s the deal?

“The vibe’s fine,” he said of his team. “Everybody gets along and we have positive attitudes that ‘This practice will go well’ or ‘Qualifying is going to go well’ and we make changes that we think we need to make. Everything works like it should, we just haven’t been able to produce.”

A reporter asked if that meant there should be changes on the team. Earnhardt Jr. chose his words carefully in response, saying he wanted to “concentrate on the rest of the year before I start thinking about that.”

With just five races to go, Earnhardt Jr. indicated he feels there’s little reason for optimism. Even if he had a great race somewhere, Earnhardt Jr. said he wouldn’t be sold that the team is turning the corner.

“I would need a little more convincing than just one good run,” he said. “It ain’t happened all year. I don’t think anybody believes it’s going to happen the rest of the year. But we’re going to show up and work hard and try not to give up.”