I just knew it would happen!

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won a race! FINALLY!

2011 Infineon - June NSCS Practice Dale Earnhardt Jr - Photo credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR

I was just seven races too early, is all. I thought for sure Junior was going to take Talladega – after all, he does race well on restrictor plate tracks. But wouldn’t you know, almost four years to the day of his last win, he places Michigan in his pocket and ends his 143-race winless streak.

A teleconference was held today with Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick and the No. 88 crew chief Steve Letarte. The question was asked to Rick Hendrick if Junior’s win will help build the momentum from here on out. Hendrick replied, “Oh, absolutely! Seeing him run up front every week, seeing him win a race, seeing him running for the championship, that’s going to just build the sport, the TV ratings, fans in the seats.”

Hendrick also noted that they were bombarded yesterday with emails and different blogs to their sites about Junior Nation having Christmas early this year. ”It’s fun because they’ve waited. They’re loyal fans. He cares about them,” continued Hendrick, “It’s good for the sport. It’s good for him. I think it helps everybody.”

We all witnessed the absence of owner Rick Hendrick during Junior’s big win and got to talk to the boss man via cell phone in Victory Lane. But where exactly was Hendrick during Junior’s victory?  Hendrick explains: “I was hating myself because I was in Michigan.  I was sitting at the airport in the rain, waiting to get in the helicopter,” said Hendrick, “In one way I’m glad I wasn’t there because nobody got to put the camera on me and see how nervous I was those last 20 laps. I had a big meeting in Atlanta Monday morning and I had to have the pilots back at 6:30.  It was a 7:00 deal in Atlanta, I had to make it, so I had to leave and come home, said Hendrick.  And we all want to know what he told Junior: “I told him I knew we was going to get it done, I’m so proud of you. Enjoy it. The world is proud of you. Take a deep breath and have some fun.”

Now that Junior Nation has taken their deep breath, now what?

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is currently second in points, only -4 behind points leader Matt Kenseth. NASCAR Sprint Cup heads to Sonoma – a place where Junior has yet to win. And just a reminder – as of June 1, 2012, the track is known as just simply “Sonoma” and will no longer be called Infineon Raceway. Why? Sponsorship has ended. The 10-year naming-rights with Infineon Technologies ends in June. Under the terms of their contract, the name Infineon will be removed from signs, brochures and any other materials identifying the raceway.

Junior obviously wants a road course victory, but has yet to finish in the top 10 at the 1.99-mile road course but has a pair of top-five finishes at Watkins Glen International, the other road course on the schedule. Accident damage and overheating steered Junior to a 41st-place finish at Sonoma in 2011.

Added Steve Letarte, “Sonoma is a place we look forward to improve. We felt we had an okay car there last year, got caught up in an accident. Those things are going to happen. That hurts our stats at Sonoma because it was just an accident. We look forward to going out there, having a good time. I don’t think the win could have come at a better time. We’re going to go out there and enjoy ourselves. We are pretty confident that if we go out there and have fun with it, we can get a car that drives very good.”

“There’s a lot of opportunities there with restarts, fuel strategies,” Letarte added. “There’s a lot of opportunities to have a good run there and we’re looking forward to it,”

Hendrick concluded, “Oh, yeah, we had one good year, a couple of not good years, but now I think we have the foundation and the base to show the Junior Nation and the NASCAR community what Dale Jr. can do and what he’s all about.