Junior is where he wanted, but didn't think it possible

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- When Dale Earnhardt Jr. was in the midst of the process of making the difficult decision to leave the race organization founded by his late and very famous father, one of the people he sought advice from more than once was Rick Hendrick.

At the time, Earnhardt didn't think he ultimately would be signing up to drive for Hendrick Motorsports -- the mega-team that eventually did lock Earnhardt up for five years, beginning in 2008. Earnhardt said Wednesday that he simply was seeking advice from Hendrick, and that he was sure the advice he did receive came from the heart.

"Every time my contract came up, he came to me and never once was there a motive of trying to get me to drive for him," Earnhardt said of Hendrick. "He came to me and said, 'I know you and your sister [adviser Kelley Earnhardt Elledge] are the only two you have. If you need lawyers, if you need any kind of help or whatever to get the deal you want, let me know and I can send some people over and help you and look at your stuff."

Shortly after Earnhardt announced May 10 that he definitely would be leaving Dale Earnhardt Inc., at the end of the 2007 season, Hendrick was asked about his possible pursuit of Earnhardt and said "there's no room at the inn," implying that his four-car team was set for '08 and beyond.

As it turns out, it wasn't. Hendrick said Wednesday that contract extension talks with Kyle Busch began to break down as Busch drew interest from several other teams. That and presumably other factors -- such as Busch's often immature behavior -- led Hendrick to eventually make room for Earnhardt.

But at the time he first made the statement, neither Hendrick nor Earnhardt saw what ultimately transpired Wednesday as being much of a possibility.

"When he made the quote that there wasn't no room over at his building, at around that time we were talking about a last resort would be to run a team out of here [at JR Motorsports, Earnhardt's Busch Series shop]. He said, 'Whatever deal you sign, I want to help you. I just want you to be happy. If you want a deal [at JR Motorsports], I'll help you do it if I have to come over here and do it myself," Earnhardt said of Hendrick.

"He's always just had that sort of been that guy that would go out of his way to help other people. ... It's a huge heart he has. I want that to rub off on me a little bit.

Before he agreed to come on board at Hendrick, though, Earnhardt said he entertained strong overtures from Joe Gibbs Racing and Richard Childress Racing. He said both of their operations -- and potential offers -- also were enticing.

"I listened to Joe and Richard. It was really, really tough because there wasn't a wrong answer," Earnhardt said. "[It was] even harder to have to tell them after I made my decision because I had so much respect for them and it matters to me how they feel about me. I made the decision I wanted to make. I can live with that. This is exactly what I wanted to do."

Like Hendrick, Childress told Earnhardt prior to his final decision that he would support him in whatever he decided to do. Dale Earnhardt won six of his seven driver championships while driving for Childress, whom the younger Earnhardt has described as a very close friend of the family, like an uncle.

"Obviously he wanted me to come drive for him. That would have been a very exciting program to be a part of," Earnhardt said.

But in the end, like in so many recent Nextel Cup events, Hendrick Motorsports was in the lead pretty much from start to finish in the race for Earnhardt's services.

"For me, I've always daydreamed about driving for Rick since I started to drive racecars. You have daydreams. It was sort of like when I was a little kid wanting to be a [Washington] Redskin," Earnhardt said. "I guess if I had my choice in a perfect world, he was kind of always in the lead. I wanted to give those other guys an opportunity ... They really wanted to talk to me and I wanted to give them that opportunity to get across the table what they wanted to. I felt like my mind could be changed, or I wouldn't have sat down with them."

At first, though, it didn't appear there was any way it would happen. Contract extension talks between Busch and Hendrick didn't begin to completely stall until about the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day, suddenly cracking the door at Hendrick Inn open ever so slightly for Earnhardt. It was all he needed to bust on through.

"I didn't think he had a chance," Earnhardt said. "I felt I basically had to look elsewhere because of him having four teams. He told me probably the only thing he could do was help me with a team I had here, but I didn't think a satellite team would be that competitive even with help from Rick. So I told him that was a last resort. So we went and talked to the other guys and listened to what they had to say. Then what happened with Kyle opened the door for me."