For the last two and a half years, fans of Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- and there are plenty -- have had just two victories with which to console themselves. That may be about to change. With his announcement Wednesday that he would be joining powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports next season, NASCAR's most popular driver is suddenly a legitimate threat to win the 2008 Nextel Cup. The Junior Legions may hate the Hendrick operation (and more specifically, Jeff Gordon) now and forever, but their hero most certainly does not. Earnhardt just loves to win. And if his fans truly care anything about him, they will support his decision.

One of the most interesting things about the Junior's news conference with owner Rick Hendrick Wednesday came when he was asked about how awkward it will be for him to have Gordon as a teammate. In the course of answering, Junior slipped in the following comment: "I'll be in equal equipment."

That statement alone tells you all you need to know about the whys and wherefores of this move. Ever since '04, when he won six races (the second most on the circuit), Junior has been struggling to keep pace with the powerful operations at both Hendrick and Joe Gibbs Racing. He won only one race in '05, and reached Victory Lane just one time last year; they were the first full seasons he had run without winning at least twice. Through it all, as my colleague, Lars Anderson, noted, he has complained about a lack of horsepower and other resources.

He's not going to need those excuses any longer. Hendrick, which is clearly the top organization in stock-car racing, is going to make sure he has what he needs -- from horsepower, to research and development resources, to people -- to get the absolute maximum from his abilities. In short, if Junior hasn't lost his ability as a driver in the last 30 months -- which he clearly hasn't -- then he just became the championship contender he was always supposed to be. Nothing should make his fans happier than that.

Why didn't he start his own operation, building up JR Motorsports? You'd have to ask him about that, but for my part, I believe that the driving force behind his move to Hendrick was a desire to win right now.

I spent last week at Pocono with Kasey Kahne, reporting a piece for this week's magazine, and I learned a lot about what it's like to start over. Kahne, who drives for the much more modestly appointed Evernham Motorsports, has gone from Chase contender to bust in just six months because his team lacked the resources to adjust quickly in the offseason to the Car of Tomorrow, as well as the new nose for the Dodge Charger. The comeback process has been painstakingly slow, hampered by a lack of data to work from, as well as by NASCAR's strict regulations governing car setups.

Is it any wonder Junior didn't want to start over from scratch? The gap between the haves and have-nots in NASCAR is bigger than it's ever been. Why not join one of the haves? Junior is 32, and has been driving nine years. He knows his time is now.

Tony Stewart talks about driving at Michigan:

"The thing about Michigan is that it's been there for so long now that there's no one, specific groove anymore. You can literally race from the white line on the apron all the way to the wall. That's the groove. Depending on how your car is driving, you can move around on the racetrack and help yourself. That's what makes Michigan such a fun racetrack for the drivers. They can really help themselves out if they don't have a car that's working right. You can move around on the racetrack and find a spot that helps your car do what you need it to do. ... It's so wide and there are so many lines that you can run -- that's what makes Michigan fun. You have to figure out how to gauge your momentum and know where you want to be on that racetrack when you enter those corners. Michigan's layout gives the drivers the flexibility to really make a difference in their car's handling. ... It's fast, it's flat and momentum is so important there, that if a guy is off just a little, he's off a lot. The drivers like it from the standpoint that if you can find a way to get around it a little better, then it'll help them in the long run. You end up racing the racetrack instead of each other."

• 12: Consecutive races won by Chevrolets this season.

• 11: Races since a Chevrolet last won at Michigan, a span of five years.

• 118.1: Greg Biffle's driver rating at Michigan, the highest among active drivers.

• 73.0: Biffle's driver rating in 2007, which ranks 17th this season.

I think that any week that sees everybody's favorite driver to hate -- Jeff Gordon -- win a rain shortened race is a week in which the ol' rasslin' meter has to point way up. The fact that the race was yellow-flagged at the exact moment that Ryan Newman was pulling even with Gordon's front fender is the icing on the cake. I half expected Vince McMahon to show up on pit row to taunt Newman and the booing fans in the stands.

My favorite sight (and smell) when I'm patrolling the garage is food on the grill. Here, the cooker outside Mark Martin's hauler makes short work of racks and stacks of ribs. My second favorite smell: Victory.

June 15, 1986 Bill Elliott wins the Champion Spark Plug 400, the third of his four consecutive victories at the Brooklyn, Mich., track in '85 and '86. Elliott dominated at Michigan in the mid-80s, winning seven of 11 races there from '84 to '89.