Head2Head: The career moves of Junior, Newman

When Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced he was leaving DEI, he vowed to join an organization that offered him his best chance to win a championship. He couldn't have done any better than choosing the sport's premier team -- one that offers comfort, stability and resources he couldn't get anywhere else.

Earnhardt despised driving for his stepmother -- the battles became bitter through the years. Now, he's wheeling cars for a "father figure." Your job is a lot more enjoyable when you respect your boss. Sure, the pressure to win is there ... but Junior will learn to "tame" it, much like champions Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.

Things have been in flux at Earnhardt's former team since he left. It has had problems getting sponsorship dollars to the demise of Aric Almirola and Regan Smith. Paul Menard left and Martin Truex Jr. is rumored to be gone next season. This potentially leaves just Juan Montoya -- a holdover from this year's merger. While Earnhardt Ganassi Racing resembles a sinking ship, Dale Jr. is sailing on the S.S. Hendrick.

Earnhardt is in the best equipment in the business and is flanked by three of the sport's finest drivers. Hendrick showed its depth in the personnel department at Dover, subbing in Lance McGrew as interim crew chief with positive results.

Ryan Newman has come on strong of late, but Penske Racing as a whole also has improved. Junior, meanwhile, benefitted more -- especially long-term -- with his career-saving move to Hendrick because while his former team flounders, Earnhardt is with a team that can help him flourish like never before.

Ryan Newman needed to get the heck out of a Dodge. Since Newman made the second of his consecutive Chase appearances in 2005, Dodge has had just two drivers make NASCAR's playoffs -- Kasey Kahne in '06 and Kurt Busch in '07.

In '09, Busch again carries the Dodge banner alone in the top 12 with Kahne the only other driver in sniffing distance of the Chase cutoff. Newman, meanwhile, is flourishing after a slow start in which bad luck was more a culprit than anything else.

Beginning at Bristol, Newman has posted seven top-10s in nine races. His eighth-place finish at Dover ended a run of four consecutive top-fives, but he's the only driver with a current five-race top-10 streak.

In contrast to his previous three years at Penske in which he never finished higher than 13th in points, Newman already has surpassed his top-five totals from '06 and '08 (two each), matched his top-10 total from '06 and is just one behind his '08 number of eight.

It should be noted that Dale Earnhardt Jr. got off to a good start in his first year at Hendrick -- through the first 18 races in '08, Junior ended a long winless streak, posted seven top-fives, 12 top-10s and finished worse than 15th just three times -- but has floundered since. At Hendrick Motorsports, there are no excuses.

For Newman, the danger of driving for a first-year team -- yeah, Stewart-Haas was created out of the former Haas CNC Racing but in reality the only similarity is the name Haas -- was offset by the public perception of low expections. Well, the former isn't a concern and the latter hasn't materialized.