Mears shouldn't be the forgotten one at Hendrick

I don't know if you've heard, but the word on the street is that Dale Earnhardt Jr. will drive for Hendrick Motorsports in 2008.

In the days since the biggest free-agent signing announcement in the history of the world last Wednesday, the vast majority of what we've read, watched and listened to has centered around the notion of how well Junior will assimilate into NASCAR's new dream team:

• Send Tom your thoughts

• Junior, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson: Room for a third champion?
• Junior and Jeff: Will the rivalry end?
• Junior and Hendrick: Would Dale approve?
• Junior, Jeff and Jimmie: What of Kyle?
• Junior and the 5 car: Ever, in a million years?

In all the wall-to-wall discussion, the name Casey Mears has barely been mentioned. About the only evidence you had that Mears was even part of the Hendrick Motorsports team was in the context of him being the guy that wasn't canned to make room for Junior.

And that's about it.

But to overlook the journey Mears and the No. 25 team has taken in the 15 races since this team was established is to overlook a key part of the recipe for the Nextel Cup championship that Junior is striving to achieve.

It's not like you pull the "Championship Winning Personnel" and "Team Chemistry" parts off the shelf, install it on the shop floor and push the start button. They're built piece by piece and they gel over time.

Time was not a commodity the 25 team had at the start of the season. When Darian Grubb was named crew chief, it was only five days before the team left for Daytona. According to Grubb, about 70 percent of the team was new, including a new car chief and about half of the pit crew. And this was his first full-time role as a crew chief.

"It's been a pretty steep learning curve. Learning a whole new driver, and him coming into a whole new organization and learning the way we operate, was definitely a tough situation," Grubb said.

As you might predict, the team struggled early on with inconsistent performances. To compound their troubles, they also had to deal with stretches of bad luck on the track. (Continued)