Tuesday, February 21st 'What If' Question

The signing of Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Hendrick Motorsports have brought forth a major change to the landscape in the NASCAR garage. That includes the news, attention and focus by those watching and covering the sport.

The 2008 season featured the HMS lineup as Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Casey Mears and Earnhardt Jr., with Kyle Busch being the odd man out and landing at Joe Gibbs Racing. To some it appeared that Hendrick had chosen Earnhardt Jr. over Busch and the consensus, those that weren't profanity fulled, seemed to be that he [Hendrick] would regret it.

Busch went out and won eight races in 2008 to Earnhardt Jr.'s one and when the two tangled in Richmond while racing for the win with less than five laps to go, the racing world ignited. It was fueled further when Earnhardt Jr. seemed to return the favor at the fall race in Richmond later the year. The have been constantly compared while the the team changes for both have been dissected and analyzed for who it has benefited more.

Busch has experienced both the highs and lows at JGR. He's won multiple races and contended for the championship only to see it disappear when the Chase started. He's broken records in the CWTS and NNS and then been benched in the Cup Series because of his actions.

Earnhardt Jr. has also had the ups and downs of racing. In 2008 he broke his winless streak and made the Chase. But in 2009 and 2010 fell off the map again and went through many team changes. To which Kyle Busch said, "It's always the crew chief, it's never the driver" and Earnhardt Jr. replied by saying that he's always had a problem with him and would take a shot whenever he could. Including during a race when laughing that Earnhardt Jr. was a lap down. In 2011 Earnhardt Jr. returned to the Chase but still hasn't won a race.

Meanwhile, Casey Mears only lasted the 2008 season with Hendrick before moving the RCR. Mark Martin came to Hendrick for the 2009-2011 season and now Kasey Kahne inherits the No. 5 for the next few years. Mears went from RCR to Key Motorsports in 2010 but then subbed for the ill Brian Vickers at Red Bull Racing for the remainder of the year. Starting in 2011 Mears became the driver of the No. 13 GEICO Toyota for Germain Racing.

Time will tell what's ahead for everyone involved as the 2012 season gets underway in Daytona with the 54th annual Daytona 500.

But ...

What if Rick Hendrick & Hendrick Motorsports hadn't kept Casey Mears over Kyle Busch in 2007 when signing Dale Earnhardt Jr., would the two still have been watched as closely and compared by others, would Busch still have taken jabs at Junior when he struggled and changed crew chiefs or would the two have been able to coincide on the same team with no problems?

@cruetten I think KB would've become an even bigger PR disaster at HMS because he would've constantly tried to outshine Jr's star.

@dougthethird Kyle would still be there, Kasey wouldn't, and RCR would still have 4 teams