Earnhardt ready for more late-season magic

Dale Earnhardt Jr. calls it the most important decision crew chief Tony Eury Jr. made last season.

Eury gambled and kept Earnhardt off pit road as most of the field stopped late in last year's NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Earnhardt turned the top-10 finish into a rally that helped him make the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

He needs similar magic this season. Earnhardt enters Sunday's race at Indianapolis in 12th -- the final transfer spot for this year's Chase. Seven races remain before the Chase begins.

Last year, Earnhardt was 28th with 20 laps left at Indy before the caution slowed the field. Earnhardt moved to second when he didn't pit and held on to finish sixth.

The run helped Earnhardt regain momentum after back-to-back last-place finishes. He scored six straight top-20 finishes to make the Chase.

Earnhardt is being pressured from behind. He leads 13th-place Ryan Newman by 30 points, but Newman has outscored Earnhardt by 97 points in the last two races.

Earnhardt leads 14th-place Kurt Busch by 77 points, but Busch has gained 159 points on Earnhardt the past two races.

Can Earnhardt make the Chase in his final season at Dale Earnhardt Inc.?

"I think Dale Jr.'s chances of making the Chase are excellent," said former champion Rusty Wallace, who also is apart of ESPN's broadcast crew. "I believe he's got something to prove.

"To be quite frank, his teammate, Martin Truex, has been flying in that DEI car, running real strong. I think that's proven to Dale Jr. that he's got the car he needs to compete. Now he's got to make it happen. I'd be real surprised if Junior is not in that top 12."

NO CHANGE: Both Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton said earlier this month that NASCAR should test competitors for drugs more often then just when series officials suspect there is a problem.

NASCAR president Mike Helton told the Indianapolis Star that the policy based on "reasonable suspicion" works and that additional testing can be done by teams.

"We're a group of independent operators, not a league," Helton told the newspaper. "We're very comfortable that our policy is a good fit for NASCAR and we're not going to change it."

WEB CASTS: NASCAR.com will stream the next six Cup races live, beginning with Sunday's event at Indianapolis. The Cup races fans can view online will be Indianapolis, Pocono, Watkins Glen, Michigan, Bristol and California. The Web site also will continue to stream live the Busch Series races.

OUCH: Roush Fenway Racing officials confirmed Tuesday that Carl Edwards suffered a dislocated right thumb after a crash in a dirt late model race last weekend in Nebraska. Edwards still plans to compete in both the Busch and Cup races in Indianapolis.

PIT STOPS: Matt Kenseth will drive the car he finished second with at Indy last year. ... Tony Stewart is scheduled to compete in a dirt late model race at the track he owns, Eldora Speedway in Ohio, after practice ends Friday at Indianapolis. ... Terry Labonte's son, Justin, will drive a truck for Darrell Waltrip Motorsports on Friday at O'Reilly Raceway Park.

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