Junior To Help Hendrick

Jimmie Johnson's fourth consecutive race victory in the Chase for the Nextel Cup has all but assured himself of winning back-to-back NASCAR Championships. With the win, Johnson now has amassed an 86-point lead over Jeff Gordon going into the final race. Even if Gordon wins the Ford 400 this Sunday, Johnson only needs a finish of 18th or better to lock down the title.

While the competition between the two Hendrick Motorsports teammates has been intense this season, next year with the addition of Dale Earnhardt Jr. all bets are off.

Junior will make his much anticipated jump from his late father's organization, Dale Earnhardt Incorporated (DEI), to Hendrick Motorsports a the end of this season. Hendrick has continually proven itself to be NASCAR's top team and will provide Earnhardt Jr. with consistently high performing cars.

In recent years and especially this season, the one thing holding Junior back was the lack of quality support from his organization.

Earnhardt has gone through a lot more adversity than most other pro athletes. From being in the same race that his father was tragically killed in, to winning the next race at the same track, to having to live up to his father's accomplishments - he has gone through a lot.

This was a very controversial move for Earnhardt to make. Leaving his legendary late father's organization for the same organization where his dad's biggest rival races, isn't exactly the easiest decision a person can make. Add that to the fact that he is by far NASCAR's most popular driver and that every move he makes is closely scrutinized by the media. He is put under constant pressure.

Above all else is that Junior can't go down as one of the sports greatest of all time unless he wins the coveted Nextel Cup Championship. This is why he had to make this decision. If he ever wanted to win a championship, leaving DEI was the only choice.

At Hendrick Motorsports, Earnhardt will be given every opportunity to make his championship dreams a reality. Nobody has ever denied his talent, but being loyal to DEI has definitely held him back from reaching his potential. There's no way that a driver with as much talent as Earnhardt should be able to go 35 races into the season without winning one race.

The offseason will be filled with much anticipation for Junior's debut in the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. While it will be strange to see him in anything besides his trademark red Budweiser No. 8, everyone needs to realize that the decision Earnhardt made was the right one. To achieve the ultimate goal of winning a championship, you need to not only be your best, but also have the best support around you. To pass this up would be foolish, because opportunities like this only come once in a lifetime.

Greg Sjovall's NASCAR column runs every Tuesday.

He can be reached at Gregory.Sjovall@UConn.edu.