Earnhardt charged up for Charlotte

CONCORD, N.C. -- At first, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was relieved he didn't fall further back than seventh at last year's Coca-Cola 600. Then he realized what he had lost for just about a gallon of gas.

"After a while, you start thinking about, 'Oh, yeah, we really came close to winning a race,' " Earnhardt said this week. "It was really unfortunate there wasn't just a little bit more gas in the car."

If there had been, Earnhardt wouldn't have faced another year's worth of questions about why he hasn't won a Sprint Cup race since 2008 at Michigan -- a drought of 140 races.

"I've said it all year long," he said, "that I think we're a little bit better than we were last year."

It looked like Earnhardt was the best at Charlotte Motor Speedway a year ago when he broke free on a late restart to take the lead. He got the white flag just fine, then ran out of gas on the front straightaway and coasted through the final turn before Kevin Harvick passed him for the win. Earnhardt will start 12th Sunday night in Sprint Cup's longest race.

Five-time Sprint champion Jimmie Johnson starts third behind the Richard Petty Motorsports duo of Aric Almirola and Marcos Ambrose, who finished 1-2 in Thursday night's qualifying. Johnson has won nine times at Charlotte, including three Coca-Cola 600s.

The race also marks the second straight -- and third overall -- Sprint Cup appearance for Danica Patrick, 31st at Darlington two weeks ago.

Usually, Patrick is spending her Memorial Day weekend at the Indianapolis 500. But she says she's excited about the NASCAR challenge and hasn't spent much time longing for the Brickyard.

"I was ready to leave IndyCar. I wanted to be here," she said. "When you are not missing something, longing for something, you don't really think about it that much." -- AP