Dale Earnhardt Junior’s first race with Hendrix Motorsports begins with a big win in the Budweiser Shootout in Daytona, Florida. Junior won the Shootout with a dominating run Saturday night as he powered past Tony Stewarts with two laps left to go and held on for his first cup win since 2006.
This race takes a lot of pressure off the shoulders of Junior after switching from DEI to Hendrix. That first race gets the monkey off the back a little bit for him and will without a doubt allow him to relax and feel a lot more comfortable with his new car, new number and new team. As a Dale Jr. fan, I am very happy to see this win for him especially after leaving the 8 for the 88. This 2008 Cup Series will be full of ups and downs for Junior but after watching this race and seeing how excited Junior was to race and win its definitely going to be a better season for him. Last year there were a lot of distractions for him revolving around his contract with DEI.
Leaving DEI was probably the hardest thing that Junior has had to do during his racing career. The company that his father had started and raced under wasn’t willing to give him the majority control and that had to be something that disappointed him greatly. After seeing the race it seems that Junior has made peace with his decision to leave and move to a team that will give him the best chance to win.
Tonight was a great start to the unofficial NASCAR season and it was a good one. Adding Junior to the mix of legitimate potential cup champion contenders will make the season that much better. It’s exciting to see one of the best racers in the sport back on his game.
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