Junior running out of time to get things right with Hendrick

The 2010 season will be the most important year in Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s racing career.

Junior enters his third year at Hendrick Motorsports coming off one of the most disappointing seasons imaginable, mired in crew chief controversy, dismal outings and internal squabbling that ultimately led to 25th place in the point standings and only two top-five finishes.

Things haven't gone as expected for Dale Earnhardt Jr. since signing a five-year contract with Hendrick in 2007. (Getty Images)

Not exactly the way many thought the marriage of the sport's most popular driver and NASCAR's premier race team would turn out.

"Sure we were frustrated about the results," Earnhardt said. "But I think we were on top of things more often than not as we went along and tried some new things that hopefully will work out as we move forward."

Despite the poor performance, Earnhardt didn't necessarily want to see the season end but rather have more opportunity to be behind the wheel working with his crew in hopes of making the improvements he so desperately needs.

"Hopefully, next year will be better," Earnhardt said when the last checkered flag flew at Homestead in November. "I want to keep racing because I think we need more racing. We're not good as a team yet. We need to race more. We don't need to say, 'All right, let's get this year over with and get ready for next year.' ... We have to try during the offseason to fix what we can without being able to go to the racetrack and seeing if that's working. Hopefully, when we show up at Daytona, we've made the right calls."

The team hopes one of those was the installment of crew chief Lance McGrew atop the pit box; he took over from Earnhardt's cousin Tony Eury Jr. in May. McGrew was forced to step into the white-hot spotlight under difficult circumstances, but once things settled down he did see improvement in the team's performance, especially after being involved with the construction of cars from the ground up.

"I inherited some things when I first stepped into this role that I had to have the team work through," McGrew said. "That was a bit of a challenge for me personally but I thought as we were able to prepare cars from scratch we were able to put some things in place we were all comfortable with."

And being comfortable with each other is something both McGrew and Earnhardt agree is paramount to their being successful.

"I've had a relationship with Dale for a long time, all the way back to [team owner Rick Hendrick's son] Ricky and his friendship with Dale in that circle," McGrew said. "I was really surprised when I first started working with Dale -- his confidence was beat down as much as it was. I expected him to be a lot more positive and a lot more understanding of the situation.

"Since then I've definitely seen a light in his eye and a strut in his step as he comes to the car. We don't have the bottom-line finishes to back up what I feel like we've started to achieve on that team, but I feel like the steps are in place to get there. I'm excited about that."

As is Earnhardt, who believes the time spent together as a team last year will be beneficial along with the 88 team's new alignment with Mark Martin and the Hendrick No. 5 stable, which will allow the two groups to share information and resources.

"We made a lot of changes in the team," Earnhardt said. "We swapped some people around with the 5 car to try to bridge that gap between the two teams, get them working together a little bit better."

"We feel like we got -- attitude is everything. Going to the track with a better attitude. Team is pretty pumped up. We're building some cars. Everybody feels good about Lance, rallying behind him, what he's doing. So I'm ready to go to the racetrack, man. Should be good."

But what if things don't turn out any better for Earnhardt in 2010, and his third year at Hendrick ends in another bitter disappointment?

While team owner Hendrick has continued to voice his support of Earnhardt and vowed to put whatever resources necessary at the 88's disposal to right the ship, it remains to be seen how long he'll stay with the plan if this season winds up another bust. Hendrick has jettisoned other top talents when things weren't working, including Kyle Busch, who left the team's 5 ride for Joe Gibbs Racing two years ago.

Should Earnhardt not win a race or make the Chase, 2010 will and should be considered a failure, as will the whole transition from the former DEI to Hendrick.

That ultimately would end his tenure at Hendrick and more than likely lead him into a driver-owner role with his JR Motorsports Nationwide Series organization, elevating the team to the Sprint Cup level.

So you can see why there's a lot on the line this year for Earnhardt and Junior Nation. With his legions of fans still behind him, Earnhardt's guaranteed another Most Popular Driver award. Everything else will be much more difficult to come by.