Now we'll find out for sure

Sure, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has 17 career Nextel Cup Series wins, but the measure of a man with the surname of Earnhardt is always in his championships.

As you're well aware, Junior has zero right now, and, as you're also well aware, he decided to depart Dale Earnhardt Inc. because he wants to win a Nextel Cup. Enter car owner Rick Hendrick, stage right.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s detractors pointed out the week-to-week inconsistency over the course of his 8 1/2-year Cup career as one of the main reasons he's been incapable of winning the big prize. They've also looked at the way he's surrounded himself with his family, and, of course, they've measured him against the work of his late father.

Junior's supporters have talked about the perceived lack of equipment he's received at DEI, about the growing pains all young drivers must go through, about Tony Eury Sr. or Tony Eury Jr. or Theresa Earnhardt holding his career back from reaching the next level.

Beginning with next February's Daytona 500, we're going to find out for sure just how good Dale Earnhardt Jr. is in the seat of a race car. Sponsorship, car number, team alignments will all be worked out, and you can be sure for a driver as marketable and popular as Earnhardt, it will all be to his benefit and liking. Think: No. 5 Budweiser Chevrolet Impala SS with a hand-picked crew chief running the ship.

Earnhardt's going to be with a team that's won six Cup series championships over the years (4 for Jeff Gordon, 1 each for Jimmie Johnson and Terry Labonte), has won 10 of 14 races this year and seems to have both restrictor plate racing and the Car of Tomorrow licked. Never will Earnhardt find himself in a better position than he will next season.

Sure, if he fails, his supporters will say it's because he was third on the Hendrick depth chart. If he wins it all, his detractors will say it's only because he's with the New York Yankees of the NASCAR world.

But the bottom line, if your name is Earnhardt, is championships. In the end, after all, they don't ask how -- they only ask, how many?