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.

"We've had really good racecars in bad situations like in Talladega, Phoenix and Texas, just very early wrecks," Grubb said. "Any time we've wrecked out of a race, it seems like we'd been running in the top 10 and had a good chance for a good finish."

But not even the vast resources of Hendrick Motorsports can turn around bad luck. Only focus and drive can do that. By the time they left Talladega, and again at Darlington, the 25 crew was parked squarely atop the dreaded go-or-go-home bubble.

Then came the breakthrough win at the Coca-Cola 600. The team followed that up with a 13th at Dover, a career-best fourth at Pocono and another fourth this weekend at Michigan. In that stretch, Casey and the No. 25 team jumped from 35th in points to a respectable 19th.

A good four-race run does not a season make, but with 217 points between them and 12th place in the points, the 25 team is now within legitimate striking distance of the Chase.

"If we can continue on the streak we've got going, I really think we shouldn't have a problem finishing in the top-10 each week," Grubb said.

"We're trying to build that consistent performance now and I think we're showing that we are capable of running up here with these guys [Gordon and Johnson], we've just got to get that consistency to show we belong here. We've got to keep that level up. And when Junior comes in, he's going to expect to be in that same boat."

Granted, when 2008 rolls around, extraordinary effort will be made by HMS to enable Junior's team to hit the ground running. And nobody will be terribly surprised if he actually wins next year's Daytona 500. But realistically, some time will be needed for the team to gel into an organization that's capable of winning a championship.

If any organization is capable of going from a standstill to a Nextel Cup championship, it's Hendrick Motorsports. Certainly the No. 24 and No. 48 teams know the process, but they took seasons to master it. I don't get the feeling Junior and Rick Hendrick will be that patient.

However, if the No. 25 team finishes as strongly as they're running now, perhaps their recipe will be one that propels both Junior and themselves into championship form -- and in short order.