Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 NationalGuard/AMP Energy Chevrolet, is congratulated in victory lane by Team Owner Rick Hendrick after winning at MIS. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR) » More Photos

But on this day in Michigan, the spotlight rightfully belonged to Earnhardt, the man who spent the early part of the 2007 season agonizing over his future at Dale Earnhardt Inc., the company started by his late father. Last year was especially hellish, as Earnhardt found out that, in fact, the tools he had at DEI were not equal to what he now has at Hendrick.

The results show it, too. Through the first 15 races of 2008, Earnhardt is just one top-five and one top-10 finish short of his totals at DEI for the entire 36 races in 2007.

He already was relaxed and happy. Now, with a victory under his belt, he no longer has any questions to answer. All he has to do is go out and race, and that’s made an already good season great for Earnhardt.

And despite what a lot of people might think, he was the one guy not sweating being winless in 76 consecutive races. He knew he consistently had good equipment. The results would come.

“I never wondered, ‘Man, will I never win again?’” Earnhardt said after his Michigan victory. “You know, I'm going to be around here if I can have my way, I'll be around here for quite a while but I'll have good opportunities driving good race cars for hopefully a good time and more opportunities to win. … The winless streak didn't frustrate me as much as most people would think and I was so happy to be where I am and so satisfied with how we've ran to this point, that I wasn't really, I wasn't that frustrated about not winning. I felt really fortunate to have what I had.”

And that cuts to the real moral of this story: Win, lose or draw, Earnhardt is thrilled to be at Hendrick Motorsports, a team several notches above DEI on the NASCAR food chain.

“As much as I wanted to win, you know, I couldn't get away from just feeling really fortunate and feeling really lucky,” said Earnhardt. “And man, I've got a great team. Look at my cars, they are so awesome, and look how well they are built and look at my guys, they are so dedicated and everybody believes. I just feel so lucky.”

So relax, Earnhardt Nation. Your favorite son certainly is.

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to