Victory, Chase good for Junior, but good enough?

Expectation is the word that comes to mind for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s 2008 season. His move from family-owned Dale Earnhardt Inc. to Hendrick Motorsports in the offseason brought a heavy load with it.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. snapped a 76-race winless streak at Michigan.

Junior was expected to win races after failing to do so in 2007. He was even projected by some to contend for the championship after finishing 16th or worse in the standings in two of the last three seasons. He certainly didn't extinguish those expectations when he won the Budweiser Shootout and his Gatorade Duel race at Daytona. But the season brought his team back down to earth.

Earnhardt started the year as a model of consistency, scoring 11 top-10 finishes in the first 15 races. The culmination of that streak was his victory at Michigan, snapping the 76-race winless drought. Yet another streak followed: Nine finishes outside the top 10 in the next 10 races. Still, it was good enough to make the Chase with ease.

Two weeks into the Chase, Junior's title contention went sour with a four-week span of mediocrity that dropped him from fourth in points to barely hanging on to the top 10. He rebounded with a second-place finish at Martinsville, but a 20th-place finish at Texas and a 41st at Homestead sealed his fate: He fell to 12th in the standings, his worst position since the second week of the season.

Did Earnhardt meet expectations? By most accounts, no. His team thrived early in races, only to fade in the closing laps. Each race became a microcosm of the season. But he did return to Victory Lane and the Chase, which could only set the bar higher for 2009.

LifeLock 400 at Michigan International Speedway -- Sure, Junior won the race. But the race also proved that he could still communicate well with crew chief Tony Eury Jr., that he trusted his cousin's judgment from the pit box, and that he can still win races after a 76-race winless streak. Junior stayed out for the final 55 laps, enduring a green-white-checkered finish before having to be pushed to Victory Lane when his car ran out of fuel crossing the line. Was it Junior's best race? That could easily be debated. But if the No. 88 team is to go on to win more races in the future, it can point to an extended day in Michigan that reminded the team it can still do the job.

Camping World RV 400 at Dover International Speedway -- Race 2 of the Chase began with Earnhardt sitting fourth in points, 50 behind leader Jimmie Johnson. But a 24th-place finish at Dover, combined with top-five finishes for Johnson, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle, dropped Junior all the way to ninth in points in just one race, 129 back of Edwards in the lead. Earnhardt never recovered. His next three races ended with finishes of 13th, 28th and 36th, ultimately dropping him to 10th in points and out of title contention.

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