Junior Nation Celebrates in His First Run With Hendrick

Posted earlier today:

My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over, for unto us is born this day in the city of Daytona Beach, the 2008 NASCAR season which officially starts tonight with the running of the Bud Shootout at Daytona (boy, how's that for mixing historical pronouncements).

And God saw that it was good. Very good, in fact, as Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Bud Shootout in his first attempt with his new Rick Hendrick team. The Car of Today is pretty impressive as the pack held together lap-after-lap. The Twin-150's on Thursday and the 500 on Sunday should really be something.