Earnhardt was primed for his first big league NASCAR win in almost three years on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. He held the lead late in the going before relinquishing it to eventual winner Kevin Harvick with 5 laps to go.

A few short laps after knocking Kyle Busch out of the top spot, Earnhardt, Sunday’s runner-up, gave up the inside line to Harvick in turn 1, opening the door for Harvick to take the lead.

Earnhardt appeared ready to attempt a crossover move heading into turn 3. He had a fender on Harvick heading into the turn, but backed off before the two cars got to the corner, enabling Harvick to slide down in front of him.

He never challenged again.

In one respect, Earnhardt looked like a driver who hasn’t won in nearly 100 starts. His late-race, rookie-like mistake to let Harvick by showed that perhaps he’s forgotten what it’s like to run up front and contend for wins. After all, his last victory not determined by pit strategy came nearly 5 years ago.

On the other hand, Earnhardt’s lack of desire to go back after the win in the closing laps made him look nothing like a driver who hasn’t won in 99 starts. He didn’t look like a driver hungry to end a drought.

Earnhardt blamed his decision not to attempt to re-take the lead from Harvick on “not wanting to be the bad guy”, but I have my own theory:

Dale Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t really want to win.

Any driver worth his salt, who has any determination to win whatsoever, would give their left leg to be in the position Earnhardt was in on Sunday. And here’s why: as a driver, it doesn’t get any easier than the position Earnhardt was in. He had the fender on Harvick. All he had to do was hold his position. If he wanted to be sure he could get by Harvick, he could have hit him too.

In this new era of “Have at it boys”, and the fact that they were racing on a short track, the latter would not have been remotely unacceptable.

With a move like that, Earnhardt could have driven off and left Harvick, and pulled into Victory Lane right then and there on Sunday. It certainly would have been a pleasant surprise for his restless nation of fans.

Instead, he left his plums at Whiskey River. And as a race fan, I feel it’s a darn shame.

I hate to draw the comparisons to his daddy, but Dale Earnhardt would never have given up a race, particularly at a short track, because he “didn’t want to be the bad guy”. Unfortunately, we’re not talking about Dale; we’re talking about Dale Jr.

In all honesty, I feel worse for his fans than anybody. Junior Nation has had to put up with a lot of crap and disappointment over the last few years. And while they may be an obnoxious bunch, they do stay loyal. And they deserved better than they got on Sunday.

I’m probably going to take a lot of flak for saying all this. But it’s ok, it needs to be said. And unlike Dale Earnhardt Jr., I don’t mind being the bad guy.

If Sunday was any indication, Dale Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t really want to win.

Kevin Harvick became the first multi-win driver this season, going back-to-back with his triumph at Martinsville. He moves up three spots in the rankings to third. Kyle Busch takes the lead in the rankings this week. Our biggest winner is Jeff Gordon, up 5 spots. The big loser is Martin Truex Jr., down 8 after his horrific crash.

New this week are David Ragan, Denny Hamlin, and Jamie McMurray. They jump in at the expense of Marcos Ambrose, Brian Vickers, and Greg Biffle.

So without further adieu, here are this week’s SCS NASCAR Power Rankings:

1. Kyle Busch(Last Week: 2[+1]): Rowdy finished third at Martinsville, but wasn’t thrilled. Short answers, smart attitude: that’s the Kyle we’ve grown to know and love. He still moved to the top of the rankings and the standings.

2. Carl Edwards(LW: 1[-1]): An uncharacteristic tough day for Cuz. Those short tracks usually do that to him though. Runs like his 18th-place effort at Martinsville are the exception to the rule for Carl this year, so it doesn’t hurt him too bad.

3. Kevin Harvick(LW: 6[+3]): Another week, another late pass for the win by Harvick. This guy is becoming the anti-Hendrick.

4. Jimmie Johnson(LW: 5[+1]): Jimmie sped on pit road all day it looked like, and he finally got caught towards the end by the people upstairs. His penalty resulted in his first sub-top 10 run at Martinsville since 2002, but he still moved up to third in the standings.

5. Ryan Newman(LW: 3[-2]): Tough luck for Rocketman as he blew up all over the launch pad. Or at least, he started to. Like Edwards, poor runs have been the exception to the rule for him thus far, so Newman should be fine.

6. Juan Pablo Montoya(LW: 8[+2]): Four top 10s in six races for Montoya. Not much more to say, which is just how he needs it right now.

7. Kurt Busch(LW: 4[-3]): This is not the same driver we saw in the first four races, and now Daytona seems like so long ago.

8. Dale Earnhardt Jr(LW: 11[+3]): So close. SO CLOSE! After forfeiting his chance at victory with 5 laps to go, you have to wonder if Junior even wants to win again, don’t you?

9. Matt Kenseth(LW: 13[+4]): They call Kevin Harvick “The Closer”, but how about Matty K.’s save. Kenseth put himself in a deep hole early with a penalty and rebounded to his third-straight top 6 finish.

10. Mark Martin(LW: 14[+4]): Fox could run a drama series on this guy’s races alone. Mark battled back from a lap down twice to finish in the top 10. Not the first time he’s done it(or something like it) this year and probably won’t be the last.

11. Jeff Gordon(LW: 16[+5]): Gordon earned his first top 10 since his Phoenix victory this weekend, as he came home 5th. Is it fair to say that it’s been feast or famine for the Drive to End Hunger car this season?

12. AJ Allmendinger(LW: 15[+3]): Should have finished fifth; wound up 14th. Story of AJ’s career. At least Dinger and Co. were competitive again this week.

13. Paul Menard(LW: 7[-6]): Menard has now put together back-to-back sub-par runs; this one ending early. Not the kind of streak you need to get on when you’re still trying to prove something.

14. Tony Stewart(LW: 9[-5]): When Smoke made an illegal lane change on a restart, NASCAR came down on him like Stewart’s fist to an Australian short track owner’s face.

15. Clint Bowyer(LW: 18[+3]): Clint now has back-to-back top 10 runs and finds himself back in Chase contention. And he’s up three spots in the rankings, so good for him.

16. Kasey Kahne(LW: 10[-6]): Red Bull gives you wings, but it was Martin Truex Jr’s car that came flying out of nowhere into Kahne’s vehicle, ending both their days.

17. David Ragan(LW: NR): Ragan finished eighth in Martinsville; his first top 10 since he earned the same result in Texas last October. The circuit returns to Texas on Saturday, so can David get a good streak started?

18. Denny Hamlin(LW: NR): Denny ran better than he finished in Martinsville, but he still has work to do. He has the same number of top 10s and one less win than he did at this point last year. That’s not good.

19. Jamie McMurray(LW: NR): Some drivers are superstitious about driving a green car, but it seems that green is just Jamie’s color. J-Mac earned his first Pole at top 10 of the season this weekend.

20. Martin Truex Jr(LW: 12[-8]): When a car sponsored by Napa loses its brakes or has a throttle hang, is that bad?