122 Races and Counting for Driver No.88

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. reviews practice times in the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway. Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. can't catch a break ...

well, his car parts can.

Earnhardt made it 122 races without a Cup victory when he struggled to a 24th place finish Sunday afternoon at Dover International Speedway. 

Earnhardt's Chevy Impala had a broken sway bar early in the race and the crew worked in the pits to fix it under caution. It worked, and Earnhardt eventually got his lost lap back.

Later on in the race, a wheel got loose and so ended the day for the National Guard/Amp Energy crew. Dale Jr is now 10th in the Sprint Cup Championship standings, 34 points behind point leaders Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards. 

Check this for points though. The top eight drivers are separated by only 15 points. Earnhardt is 15 points behind Jeff Gordon for ninth place. 

After the race, Earnhardt Jr said "We are still alive and we will keep racing as hard as we can until that last lap at Homestead."

Earnhardt believed the 88 Chevy Impala was a top-10 car and he could at least come close to matching the third-place finish he rolled out at Chicagoland just two weeks ago. He finished 17th last weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. 

"We are a good team and we have showcased that several times this year," Earnhardt said. "We weren't as fast as the guys up front, but we were better than we have been here in a long time. I've had some rough runs here lately and haven't got this place figured out yet or what we need."

Will NASCAR see it's most popular driver in victory lane before the 2011 season is in the books? If so, which track do you think we will see the celebration? Let us at NASCAR Ranting and Raving know your opinions.