No haste from Hendrick as Earnhardt eyes improved '09

The numbers speak for themselves.

And although they're not as dismal as my 401k, they're mediocre at best.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. can build on his lone '08 win -- his first in over 2 years. (Getty Images)

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s first season at Hendrick Motorsports ended with one victory, 10 top fives, 16 top 10s, a pole and a 12th-place finish in the points standings.

That's not exactly what most of the world, including Junior and team owner Rick Hendrick, expected.

In fact, Earnhardt's 2008 looked similar to his last couple of years at DEI, especially in 2006 when, with the exception of an extra top-10 finish and the absence of a pole, the numbers were identical.

After starting out the year as Hendrick's best driver and knocking down one consistent finish after another while superstar teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon struggled, it looked as if Earnhardt would finally fulfill the promise that he has long carried.

He stayed near the top of the point standings for most of the regular season and ended his two-year-plus winless streak in June's Michigan race, albeit on a fuel mileage game that worked out for Earnhardt and crew chief/cousin Tony Eury Jr. Earnhardt made the Chase despite ending the regular schedule with seven straight finishes outside the top 10 and began the 10-race final stretch as the No. 4 seed.

But once the playoffs started, Junior was never a factor for the championship and was clobbered with mechanical problems, accidents, bad luck and bad decisions that ended with a basement Chase field finish.

The outcome didn't go unnoticed by the boss.

"I'm disappointed," Hendrick said. "I felt like we were so good early on, and we just had tremendous little gremlins bite us here, from tire problems to things that you just can't control."

Hendrick does believe the experience was educational for Earnhardt and that there were lessons learned during the season.

"I think he learned a lot," Hendrick said. "There's no way you can put a team together in their first year and they be as good as the 48 (Johnson) team because they've been together. That's the chemistry that's going to get better on Dale Jr.'s side as we roll into next year with a year under our belt."

The chemistry between Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus is credited with that team's incredible success. Earnhardt's relationship with Eury also has its share of chemistry, but some believe a change in crew chiefs would be beneficial for Junior and elevate him to championship level.