Christian Fittipaldi knew it would be trial by fire when he finally moved full-time to Winston Cup after a successful career in open-wheel racing. But what Fittipaldi didn't entirely expect was that fire would turn into a raging inferno.

Since replacing veteran driver John Andretti behind the wheel of the No. 43 Dodge owned by Petty Enterprises in mid-June, Fittipaldi has struggled miserably. In the 12 races since taking over for Andretti, Fittipaldi has twice failed to qualify, has seven finishes of 35th or worse and has qualified better than 36th just two times.

Meanwhile, the plusses have been few: His best finish to date has been 24th (at Pocono), while he did surprisingly pull a seventh-place qualifying effort out of his bag of tricks four weeks ago at Michigan (only to wind up with another disappointing finish of 33rd). But other than those episodes, good news has been in short supply in the No. 43 camp.

The run of bad luck and poor performance has been especially glaring of late for the dashing and handsome Brazilian driver, nephew of legendary Indy car star Emerson Fittipaldi. In his last three races, Christian has qualified 43rd, 23rd and 41st, and has finished 41st, 43rd and 43rd again, all three final finishes coming due to premature exits in races because of untimely crashes.

He enters Sunday's New Hampshire 300 in 44th-place in the Winston Cup standings, where he's sat for the past six weeks.

But while the recent run of misfortune has admittedly been wearing, Fittipaldi isn't giving up on his dream of becoming a Winston Cup star someday, just as he was on the CART circuit.

"I expected it to be tough; I never thought everything would be roses," Fittipaldi said. "But at the same time, I have to admit the last three races really didn't go our way at all. We were a little bit unlucky, but by no means were we as bad as what we looked or where we finished. The problem is I haven't even been able to finish the races the last three weeks.

"There's no doubt it's been pretty frustrating. I spent 70 percent of my life going pretty decent. And when you have three races in a row where you finish last or close to last, it's not very motivating, to say the least. I guess we just have to keep our heads up and go on to the next one. There are signs that we can really put some decent stuff together, the only thing is working on it to try and put it together."

Fittipaldi may be discouraged, but he's also encouraged at the same time, particularly when he sees what other drivers who've struggled in recent years have done recently. He quickly points to former Winston Cup champion Terry Labonte, who endured his worst year of racing in Winston Cup last season, only to have a tremendous resurgence in 2003, including winning a race (at Darlington two weeks ago) and a pole, and climbing into the top-10 in points -- all accomplishments that he hasn't enjoyed in several years.

"Things that motivate me are things like Terry's win at Darlington," Fittipaldi said. "He obviously is a Cup champion already and was coming from a four-year drought. Imagine a guy that is at the level of Terry, who's won a championship and many races, to being an also-ran and fighting to win and still being winless for four years, you need to be motivated and really need to get your act together to turn things around, like they have for Terry."

	Fittipaldi is still searching for a top-10 finish this season.

Team owner Kyle Petty had originally planned for Fittipaldi to split his time this season racing primarily on the Busch and ARCA circuits, with a smattering of Winston Cup races thrown in for good measure. The key, Petty said heading into the season, was to get Fittipaldi as much time behind the wheel and on the race track so as to make him more comfortable in his new environment of stock car racing.

However, things didn't exactly play out that way. When Petty failed to attract adequate corporate sponsorship for Fittipaldi's efforts prior to this season, his gameplan for the young Brazilian began to fizzle. And, despite Andretti's loyalty to the team for nearly six years, Petty elected to release him in early June and install Fittipaldi in his place in the No. 43 car. While Fittipaldi felt a bit uncomfortable replacing Andretti, he also realizes that it was a business decision made by Petty to try and improve the fortunes of the No. 43, as well as to get Fittipaldi some key Winston Cup experience -- even though it meant that Fittipaldi is no longer eligible to compete for Rookie of the Year honors.

"The situation, no matter if it's a John, Joseph, Paul or Peter, no matter who it is, it's always difficult," Fittipaldi said. "It was difficult for me towards John, and I think it would be just as difficult for another driver if it happened towards me. As far as I'm concerned, I work for Petty Enterprises, that's what Kyle decided to do, and I'm going to stick to what he decided to do.

"As far as what happened to John, I just stepped in and went on from there. There are times that it has been hard because I've been going to some places that I've never seen before in my whole life. You get there, have a couple of practice runs and then you're qualifying later that same afternoon. And, it's very competitive, with you going against people who've been doing this for many, many years and are at such a high level."

Compounding Fittipaldi's on-track struggles is the resume and heritage he brings to stock car racing. First and foremost, obviously, are his famous surname and the lineage of his famous uncle and father, who was a successful open-wheel racer in his own right. Then there's the record of success the younger Fittipaldi acquired while competing on the CART circuit. There's also the added burden of being a foreign-born driver who only began racing stock cars less than two years ago, when he made his debut in the Busch Series.

Add all that together and Fittipaldi has been dealt a rather difficult hand. Yet, at the same time, he also knows that just one good hand in the future could be the very thing he needs to ultimately turn things around.

"Sometimes it's hard on me especially, maybe because some people had the expectation because you come from open-wheel and you're a foreigner and this and that, and that you were going to step into the car and were maybe make a difference," Fittipaldi said. "It's not like that at all. All the drivers out there are very, very competitive. At the same time, if you compare my performances, with such a limited amount of time, with someone like Kyle, for example, which is my best comparison, there are some races I was better at and there's other races he was better at.

"Now, forget about all that. There are more important issues that we need to concentrate on, like making the team pick up the whole performance, like making the team step up, and then you're going to see me running better and you're going to see him running better also."

Petty knows that Fittipaldi's development is a long-term project. But as he grows, so too will the team and overall Petty organization. That's why, while the struggles are obviously disappointing, Petty isn't overly concerned at this point.

"It wasn't our intention to throw Christian into the fire this early, but hey, it's the way I started and Christian has done a good job for us considering the situation he was put in," Petty said. "We picked Christian purely on his talent. He's a quick learner. If you look at his races, his fastest laps are always in the second half of the race. He's breaking that learning curve quickly. He has a lot of talent and we wouldn't have put in the car if he didn't."

	"	I expected it to be tough; I never thought everything would be roses. But at the same time, I have to admit the last three races really didn't go our way at all. We were a little bit unlucky, but by no means were we as bad as what we looked or where we finished. "
		— Christian Fittipaldi

Because of his record of success in open-wheel racing, there were numerous reporters and fans alike that predicted immediate stardom for Fittipaldi once he got behind the wheel of a Winston Cup racer. But even he admits that was too optimistic of an expectation.

"It is for sure the hardest thing I've ever done, because open-wheel cars and stock cars are so different," Fittipaldi said. "When you hop into a stock car, it's a completely different world. And, on top of that, you're dealing with people who've been running five years, 10 years or more, every single weekend. It's not like they run 10 races or so a year, like in CART. They run almost every weekend, 36 races plus the testing, for five or 10 or more years. That kills you right away to start off with, just in all the mileage they've accumulated over the years. I think that has definitely been the hardest thing on me, trying to reduce this deficit (of time behind the wheel) as quick as possible."

In light of his struggles this season, one might wonder whether Fittipaldi may consider a possible return back to the more familiar confines of open-wheel racing, perhaps as early as next season. Not so, says the young Brazilian. He's committed to see this opportunity through.

"I'm in this for the long run," he said. "This definitely wasn't one of those things where I thought I'd go over there (to Winston Cup), check things out and see how it is and then go back (to open-wheel). This is something I'm very serious about. I pretty much changed my whole career and made a 180-degree change, to take all the experience I've gained and all the things I've learned over the years, and to just start from zero again. I wouldn't have left all of that only to try out for a year and then go back again (to open-wheel). Do I see myself driving an open-wheel car again? It could be a possibility, but very unlikely."

And, just like in open-wheel or any other form of racing, Fittipaldi knows how fickle competition on four wheels can be. Just when things look their bleakest, as they have for him of late, one sudden burst of success can spell all the difference for both a driver, a team and their future fortunes.

"That's what you hope for, you have one breakthrough and things suddenly start falling into place, and you're not driving or doing anything differently," Fittipaldi said. "It's just a chain reaction."

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at Motorsportwriter@MSN.com