Meanwhile, ThorSport teammate Matt Crafton piloted the No. 88 Menards Chevy Silverado to a 9th place finish, Crafton's 8th top-10 finish this season.

Crafton is in 12th place in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series standings, and is within 27 points of the top 10.  Earnhardt is 22nd following his fine finish at Nashville.

Earnhardt has flirted with top-10 finishes this season, and Saturday was his closest encounter yet.  “We’ve struggled at the short tracks and a little bit of it is because of me,” said the son of seven-time NASCAR NEXTEL Cup champion Dale Earnhardt and brother of current star Dale Earnhardt Jr. “I’m too aggressive in the corners and the trucks are a lot different from the cars I’d been racing. I’m still working to figure it all out.”

In Nashville, Earnhardt and crew chief Lance Hooper, a former NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver, appeared close to finding the puzzle’s missing pieces.

“Lance and the guys made some good calls in the pits and the breaks with the cautions allowed us to get up front,” said Earnhardt, adding that some new-found patience also is helping. “I really just rode around and played the cat-and-mouse game.”

Earnhardt believes the relationship with Crafton – a veteran of 138 races and fifth-place finisher in the 2004 title race – is paying dividends.

“We tested last week and our lines of communication have gotten much better,” said Earnhardt. “We bounced ideas off each other at (Indianapolis) and again at Nashville and just having him to talk to is a big help.”

Earnhardt and the No. 13 team are looking forward to Bristol. “I am excited to have some momentum going there,” he said.

“I am having fun and I really enjoy the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series,” he said. “I like the shorter schedule because it gives me time to spend at home with my family. That’s important to me (because) family is the most important thing and I wouldn’t do anything differently.”

Crafton overcame a  flat right front tire early in the race to finish ninth.  "We had cleared the No. 77 and I got together with the No. 5 truck of Skinner when he bounced off the wall", said Crafton. "We finished with a top-ten, but if I didn't get blocked by a couple of trucks we could have finished a few positions higher.  Our truck wasn't handling good in the early part of the race, and we actually went up eight pounds on the right side tires, which is unbelievable.   We had single digits (of air pressure) on the lefts, so it was a really crazy race out there for us.  All in all, we'll take away another top-10 finish and keep the momentum going at Bristol.