Junior always a contender, but never had this pressure

In case you hadn't heard, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won a Sprint Cup race the other day.

Ain't here to talk about the whys, 'cause I don't care -- and in a couple weeks, no one else will care, either.

Because the record book for time everlasting will just show a victory for Rick Hendrick's No. 88 car.

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Won't show that he outlasted the field on a fuel gamble, won't show he ran the better part of the last few caution laps on the apron or that he ran up next to the pace car for whatever reason.

So what?

It's a win, and that's the bottom line.

And I'm here to tell you, I can't believe it's taken the kid this long to win.

Can you believe he had to say "I don't care what they write, because I finally won one?" or words to that effect?

It just goes to show you how narrow-minded a lot of people can be. I had said at least a few times earlier this season that I'd be surprised if it took this long for ol' June Bug to win a points race.

And don't try to talk to me about the couple of non-points races he'd already scored. They're nice -- but mostly in that they prove that you can get the job done when it really counts.

And as far as I'm concerned, Junior had already done that.

How soon we forget -- or at least, how overpowering -- the last few, challenging years at DEI had become.

As stout as Junior's been this season, it isn't his best effort. He and crew chief Tony Eury Jr. did better, you might recall, back in 2003 and 2004.

After 15 races in each of those seasons, Junior was second in the standings; and even though he only finished fifth in 2004's final standings, after being third the season before, to date that is his career year, with six wins, 16 top-five finishes and 21 top-10s.

Even as late as 2006 at DEI, Junior was fourth after 15 starts, before he ended up fifth.

No, even though he's had some blips and some slips on his Cup radar screen, Junior has proven he can be a contender.

But maybe never has he had to prove himself, week in and week out, as he has this season. And even more ridiculously, in the face of what they've accomplished together -- so has his cousin, Eury.

If their victory does one thing, maybe it will quiet some of the doubters out there in the masses.

That would severely be overdue.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.