Junior starts Hendrick transition with publicized test

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s test runs on Monday and Tuesday offered more challenges for Junior in the garage than he found on the track. Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

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Sunday's wild finish at Atlanta had nothing on NASCAR's post-race theater that has unfolded in the sleepy town of Hampton, Ga. since. As the sun rose over the empty stands of Atlanta Motor Speedway early Monday morning, Dale Earnhardt Jr. strode through the garage of the 1.5-mile facility ... and bypassed the familiar colors of the No. 8 in favor of a No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. With those small steps, chronicled by a media horde crouched at the ready, the curtain rose on a new era in NASCAR history.

You can title the first chapter "The Circus Was In Town."

Strapping into a retro paint job -- representing the first car Hendrick Motorsports campaigned on the Cup tour 23 years ago -- Junior flipped the ignition, getting the most overhyped test session in the history of motorsports underway.

Truth be told, the two days of testing Junior completes Tuesday have been far more style than substance. Nothing he learns will help either about-to-be teammates Jimmie Johnson or Jeff Gordon as they battle for a title in the short-term; the Car of Tomorrow won't be run on these 1.5-mile ovals until the beginning of next year. And with possible minor tweaks to the vehicle looming in the offseason, it's uncertain the information gathered here by Junior will be critically important among the Hendrick faithful six months from now.

So, with so little at stake for the present, what's the point of planning for the future so soon?

One word: hype.

After six months of anticipation mixed with excitement mixed with disbelief, there seemed too much buildup to leave it all bottled up without throwing the PR machine a bone. And perhaps it's a way to send those still in shock a little dose of reality, that whether the fans like it or not, NASCAR's most popular driver is going to be toiling for its most successful team come the drop of the green flag in February.

And he's finally in a position to physically prove it.

"The actual testing part is mundane, of course," said Junior, still hobbling from a vicious Sunday crash but eager to be a part of the hype nonetheless. "[But] I'm excited to watch [crew chief] Tony [Eury] Jr. work with the new guys. I'm excited to see the expressions on their faces, their mannerisms, their attitudes about the whole thing."

"They seem to have a good attitude, seem to be excited about the possibilities of our success."

Early on, the prospects appeared good; the car held up against its competition, running a solid seventh in both Monday test sessions. But the future should hardly be judged on a two-day orientation where the driver is still busy learning the names of his crew. Allowed to bring just three men over from the DEI stable, both Eury and Junior are immersed in a whole new set of working conditions at Hendrick -- making team chemistry just as important in learning the technical side they bring to the table.

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