CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. was sweating away with everybody else in the plaza outside his uptown nightclub on this steamy hot Tuesday afternoon. He was there promoting the upcoming night race at Bristol Motor Speedway, his favorite track in NASCAR.

Then the subject turned to Sunday's race at Watkins Glen International (1 p.m. ET, ESPN).

Earnhardt hates road course racing. He never aspired to drive on one as a kid when he dreamed of becoming a professional stock car driver like his father. He thinks they are a waste of time and don't really belong in the sport.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has struggled mightily at Watkins Glen in recent memory, accumulating an average finish of 29.4 over the past five seasons. John Harrelson/NASCAR/Getty Images

But he understands he'd better like this one.

It's a huge week for NASCAR's most popular driver. Get past The Glen with a decent finish, and his odds of making the Chase go up significantly.

Do what he's done the past five seasons at the 2.45-mile circuit, and he might need a win in one of the following four races to make the Chase -- and even that could be dicey with a few drivers around him at 10th in the standings already eligible for the wild card with a win.

Going in with a negative attitude won't help, and Earnhardt understands that, although it's not easy changing at age 36. Among his last words after Sunday's ninth-place finish at Pocono Raceway were that he hoped to go to The Glen and "steal a good finish."

That's not exactly a confident way of looking at it, but it's no different than the way Earnhardt talked after leaving the June road course race in Sonoma, Calif., with his car in a wrecked heap.

"I'm not a big fan of the place, but maybe one of these days," he said that day.

One of these days for Earnhardt needs to be now. He needs to forget his average finish at The Glen is 22.9 -- slightly worse than the 22.2 at Sonoma -- and that his average over the past five races there is a dreadful 29.4.

He needs to remember the positive thoughts he had after beating road course specialist Ron Fellows in a 1999 Nationwide Series race at The Glen, the positive thoughts he had after finishing third and fifth there in the 2003 and 2004 Cup races.

"I'm pushing myself pretty hard right now, but confidence helps," Earnhardt said as he leaned against the gold and white car he'll drive to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Bristol night race. "Anytime you go into a race weekend and you're not there confidence-wise, you set the tone for the rest of the weekend.

"Your results mirror what your expectations were, so you have to try to remind yourself to stay positive and be upbeat when the task at hand looks impossible or too difficult."