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Stay patient, Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans. That goes for you, too, Junior.

Earnhardt backers clearly weren't happy with the outcome of Saturday night's race at Richmond. Kyle Busch and Earnhardt banged each other for the lead in the closing laps, and Earnhardt was spun out.

That's racing. It just happens. To Earnhardt's credit, he said as much to the media. Busch also said it was two drivers racing hard without a lot of room on the track.

Many fans didn't see it that way, and that's fine. In fact, that's good for racing if this creates a rivalry between the drivers.

But to a large degree, the frustration from supporters of Earnhardt's No. 88 Chevy is about his lengthy absence from Victory Lane. Saturday marked two years since Earnhardt's last win. It's his longest drought since he joined the Sprint Cup circuit full time in 2000.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. (left) spins out of control after colliding with Kyle Busch May 3.

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Earnhardt must fight the tendency to get too aggressive and take too many risks just to celebrate a win again. Crew chief Tony Eury Jr. must do the same.

Strange advice? Maybe. Racing is about winning, and Earnhardt isn't doing that. But he's running up front and gaining valuable points at nearly every event. That's how you win championships. The trips to Victory Lane aren't far behind.

Ask Jimmie Johnson. He knows something about winning.

"I don't know if I have any advice for Junior; I think he's doing just fine," Johnson said. "The best thing to do is just keep doing what you're doing. I just try to be patient and work on the things that I can control because there are so many things that I can't."

This is Earnhardt's best shot to claim his first Sprint Cup title since 2004, when he won a career-high six times and finished fifth in the standings.

For the first time since that season, Earnhardt is in the top five of the standings after the first 10 races. He has seven top-10 finishes, the same number he had at this point in the last two seasons combined. He's 104 points behind the leader, Busch. That's the closest he has been to the lead through the first 10 races since 2004, when he led the standings after a couple of wins.

The numbers show Earnhardt is a weekly contender. The more often he runs up front, the better chance he has of winning. So calm down, everybody. Earnhardt is going to win, and probably soon.

Elliott Sadler posted the fastest time at a two-day test for Cup teams at Lowe's Motor Speedway this week.

NASCAR added the test session at the Charlotte track after complaints about driving the new car at 1.5-mile ovals. It's hoped the tests will help teams gather information to make the races better at intermediate tracks later this season.

Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage was glad NASCAR agreed to the test, but he hopes the cars will get some extra time at TMS, too, before the Dickies 500 in November.

Tony Stewart, visiting Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Wednesday to unveil Chevrolet's new midget-car engine, said he would want to drive in the Indy 500 again only if he ran all the IndyCar Series races before May. Otherwise, he said he would feel he was being unfair to his team and himself.

"There's a part of me that thinks running at Indy and in IndyCar is a chapter of my life that is closed," Stewart, an Indiana native, told reporters. "Then there is the emotional part of me that says, 'Never say never.'"

Rain canceled Indy 500 practice for the second straight day Thursday ahead of this weekend's qualifying. ... Super Aguri withdrew from Formula One competition this week. The team, which has struggled since debuting in 2006, lacks the finances to continue.

John Force: A week after losing to his daughter, he became the first NHRA driver to win 1,000 rounds.

Clint Bowyer: Won for the first time at a short track; showing last season was no fluke.

Kyle Busch: No one is driving better right now than the new points leader.

Joey Logano: Won his debut in the ARCA Re/Max Series, edging Ken Schrader at Rockingham Speedway.

Kurt Busch: Daytona 500 runner-up has finished 23rd or worse in last five races.

Matt Kenseth: Has just one top-five in the first 10 races and was 39th at Richmond.

Jamie McMurray: Has finished outside the top 15 in all but two races this season.

Brandon Bernstein: Lost in the first round in Madison, Ill., and dropped to seventh in Top Fuel standings.

Rankings include drivers from all professional racing series. (Rankings from previous week in parentheses.)

1. (1) Kyle Busch (NASCAR): Runner-up finish at Richmond gave him points lead

2. (2) Kimi Raikkonen (F1): Leads standings and coming off win in Spain

3. (3) Jeff Burton (NASCAR): Dropped to second but is 86 points ahead of third

4. (4) Helio Castroneves (IndyCar): Heads to Indianapolis on top of the standings

5. (6) Dale Earnhardt Jr. (NASCAR): Came so close to first win in two years

6. (NR) Clint Bowyer (NASCAR): Second career win vaulted him to fourth in points

7. (8) Lewis Hamilton (F1): Looking for second win of 2008 as series heads to Turkey

8. (9) Danica Patrick (IndyCar): Hoping for some magic at Indy 500 this month

9. (10) Dan Wheldon (IndyCar): He's confident as he goes for second Indy 500 win

10. (5) Ashley Force (NHRA): Lost Funny Car points lead after first-round elimination

Dropped out: Jimmie Johnson (NASCAR)