Popularity, responsibility go hand-in-hand for Junior (cont'd)

"That's my focus for next year," Hendrick said. "I'm committed to that 88 car. The other guys are running well and they know the things they've been doing. I've met with Lance and Alan and Junior, and you're going to see a big difference in that team next year."

Earnhardt certainly hopes so, especially after an awful 2009 campaign full of failures and breakdowns and shortcomings. Before, Hendrick said, Gustafson had his guys in the 5 outfit, and Tony Eury Jr., Earnhardt's former crew chief, had his guys on the 88. They were two separate teams under the same roof. "Now, we're swapping guys around," Hendrick said. "We're trying to make one big team with two cars."

That means Gustafson, who helped Martin to a second-place points finish this year, will play a role on the 88. There are other changes, too, in areas like shocks and engineering. Thursday, at least, Earnhardt sounded optimistic.

"I hope it makes us better," he said of the changes. "It should make us better. I feel good about it. I think that as an entire unit the 88 car could have been stronger. We had the resources. There was a broken link here and there. Hopefully we've got that fixed and we'll see the results on the race track."

What that link specifically was, he wouldn't say. "I don't want to bring a lot of light to them," Earnhardt said. "They're commonplace changes, but anytime we do anything with our team it really puts everybody in a spotlight, and these are individuals that work in the sport that don't care to be in the spotlight. I really don't want to do that to any of the guys I've been working with in the past that I won't work with in the future. Because they're good guys."

Earnhardt knows a little something about living in the spotlight, and truth be told handles it better than many others would in his situation. Even Hendrick will admit that Earnhardt's enormous popularity puts pressure on everyone associated with him, a nine-time championship car owner included.

"I knew that when he came, that I'd be answering more questions about what's wrong if he wasn't successful," Hendrick said. "That's just kind of part of the deal. But I have a very good relationship with him, and I really admire the guy that lives inside that wants to please a lot of people but carries a tremendous burden on his shoulders. It's not one I would want."

And yet, Junior hoists that burden onto his shoulders every time he walks out his front door. Which is why he knows better than anyone that he needs to reach a point where his production and his popularity are more in line. Which is why he came to Las Vegas for a few hours to accept an award that had nothing to do with success or failure on the race track. Which is why leaving the frustration of 2009 behind must be as easy as flipping a page on a calendar.

"It's going to have to be," he said. "It's basically the only option I've got."

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.