Dale Jr.'s Move to Hendrick Motorsports--The Right Decision?

When Dale Earnhardt Jr. left DEI last year and moved on to Hendrick Motorsports, most of his fans (including me) were surprised (to say the least) and a bit disappointed (to put it mildly). After all, we could have lived with his teaming with RCR or Joe Gibbs Racing. But to become teammates with a couple of his fiercest competitors? Unthinkable!

If preseason testing at Daytona is any indication, however, of how Junior will perform in 2008, his settling upon Hendrick might well prove to have been a not-so-bad choice. The morning of January 15, he was clocked at 185.820 mph on a single lap, while teammate (and reigning Cup champ) Jimmie Johnson only managed to pull off 184.782 mph in the previous week's testing.

We Dale Jr. fans knew all along he had championship potential; it just lay dormant the past couple seasons at DEI. Talk circulated among the racing community that DEI was spending money in places other than technology and equipment--the two areas in which Hendrick has dominated. And if that's the case, current up-and-coming drivers at DEI like Martin Truex Jr. and Paul Menard are undoubtedly of championship caliber as well.

Friction in the workplace most often results in either:

a. The employee's super achieving in order to impress the employer, or

b. The employee's apathy and slipshod performance.

Unfortunately, for the past couple seasons, the friction between Dale Jr. and his stepmother apparently has resulted in example b.

The combination of Dale Jr.'s reportedly comfortable relationship with Rick Hendrick, along with his cousin, Tony Eury Jr., once again serving as crew chief, plus the technological expertise of Hendrick Motorsports promises that 2008 could definitely be his most successful year yet in Cup.

I have a feeling that at the end of this season, Dale Jr.'s fans won't be disappointed that they traded their Bud "8" allegiance for the Mountain Dew/National Guard "88".