Earnhardt resides near bottom of point standings

This is not the kind of start to the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup season that Dale Earnhardt Jr. envisioned.

Heading into Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Earnhardt has failed to finish the first two Cup races of the season and is 40th in the points, two spots behind Dale Earnhardt Inc. teammate Martin Truex Jr.

"We're not happy about it, but we're keeping our heads up," Earnhardt said. "We've had some rough starts before and came back strong. We were 38th in the points after two races in 2003, and we came back to finish third.

"It seems like we always get better as the year goes on. Don't forget, we had back-to-back last-place finishes in the middle of the summer last year and dropped out of the top 10 in points, but we fought back into the Chase when we needed to."

Still, Earnhardt can't be feeling comfortable after crashing out and finishing 32nd in the Daytona 500, then winding up 40th with a blown engine at California.

"We found out what caused the engine failure at California, and our guys have been busting their butts to make sure we don't have that problem again," Earnhardt said. "The most positive thing we took from California is that we had a car that was really fast."

Earnhardt is not alone among NASCAR's stars who have struggled at the start of this season.

Defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, usually a fast starter, is 15th in the standings. Perennial contender Greg Biffle is 17th and two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart is 21st, 149 points behind surprising series leader Mark Martin.

It appeared Stewart turned things around in California with an eighth-place run after finishing last at Daytona. But he is looking at the Las Vegas race as a pivotal one, particularly since the 1.5-mile LVMS oval has been reworked with higher banking and reconfigured turns, making it a much faster track.

"These early races teach you very quickly where your program is compared to the competition," Stewart said. "If your cars are good, you'll run well at California, Vegas, Atlanta, Texas and so on.

"Everybody wants to know where they stack up and shake out right now. If you can get off to a good start, it shows that your program is really where it needs to be. This is a huge week."

It's also the third of five races in which last year's car owner points determine the 35 entries guaranteed starting spots and those that must get in on qualifying speed.

The new Toyota teams are keeping a close eye on those numbers.

Right now, the only Toyota drivers guaranteed a spot in the lineup each week are Dave Blaney, whose Bill Davis Racing No. 22 entry was among the top 35 last year, and Dale Jarrett, who has made each of the first two races with the former Cup champion's provisional. And that could change soon.