What a difference a year makes. Last season Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was toughing it out at the company his father founded, embroiled in controversy with an unrelenting stepmother while experiencing some difficult days at the track.

Dale, Jr. made the best of a diappointing 2007, scoring seven top fives and twelve top tens with one pole and winding up sixteenth in points. For some competitors that would have been an acceptable year, for others a great year. Not for Junior.

Through it all he kept his chin up, his sense of humor intact and his determination alive.

Faced with many options for his future, Earnhardt, Jr. had to make some serious decisions. In June of 2007 he announced he would be driving for Hendrick Motorsports, who collectively won half of the Cup races in '07.

Talk about pressure.

Many said at the time his fans would not follow him to "the competiton." Others said his leaving the family team would not gain him more wins or a championship.

So far in 2008, Junior has one win, seven top fives, twelve top tens, one pole and is third in the Race to the Chase with twelve races remaining on the schedule. Much to the delight of his loyal and seemingly endless JR Nation fan following, he and his Hendrick Motorsports team have positioned themselves as contenders for the 2008 Cup Series championship.

As a car owner, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has also postioned his JR Motorsports team with driver Brad Keselowski to contend for the 2008 Nationwide Series title. Keselowski currently occupies the second spot in the points standings, one hundred twenty two points out of first, with nine races to go.

"I think it's important that the fans know the initiative I've had over the past several years to become a grown-up. I am striving to be the total package: a mature, dedicated, motivated race car driver," Dale Earnhardt, Jr. said recently.

2008 could prove to be one sweet year for the driver of car 88.