MOORESVILLE, N.C. – When Dale Earnhardt Jr. needed career advice, he turned to Rick Hendrick. When his grandfather suffered a stroke, it was Hendrick who made arrangements at the hospital. When his sister had a cancer scare, Hendrick found a specialist.

And when Earnhardt needed to find a new team, it was a no-brainer. He landed with Hendrick, announcing a five-year deal Wednesday to join the elite team in 2008.

In many ways, they need each other.

This could be the partnership that helps Earnhardt finally win the championship that has eluded him during his Nextel Cup career.

More important, it could help fill a void that both have lived with since accidents killed Earnhardt's father and four members of Hendrick's family, including his only son.

"I don't want to take his father's place, but I think we offer something that both of us are missing," Hendrick said. "It's not that he's looking for me to be his dad, or I'm looking for him to be my son.

"We have a common bond that we both lost somebody ... so there's something there."

That bond played a large part in Earnhardt's decision to choose Hendrick Motorsports over the other suitors he had in the five-week push to sign NASCAR's most popular driver.

He could have chosen Richard Childress, who fielded cars for six of the late Dale Earnhardt's seven championships. Or he could have gone with Joe Gibbs, who as coach of his beloved Washington Redskins left Junior awe-struck during their meetings.

"There wasn't a wrong answer," Earnhardt said.

But as he fretted over his decision, Hendrick always stood above the others.

The two have known each other since Junior was a little boy and his father gave Hendrick his first NASCAR win in a 1983 Busch Series race. He was close to Hendrick's son, Ricky, before he and nine others were killed in a 2004 plane crash, and he'd seen how Hendrick treats his employees the same way he treats his family.

He watched as Hendrick allowed his maternal grandfather, Robert Gee, to continue working at HMS long after he was physically able. And in the six years since the elder Earnhardt's fatal accident at the Daytona 500, Junior has continuously gotten from Hendrick the kind of career advice he would have gone to his own father for.

When he turned to Hendrick following his May 10 decision to leave DEI, it just felt right.

"I've had such a great relationship with Rick over the years," Earnhardt said. "The things he does for people ... I don't deny that Joe and Richard are the same, but I've known Rick."

Earnhardt was the most sought-after free agent in NASCAR history, and he embarked on a recruiting tour like nothing the sport had ever seen.

By the time he climbed the stage at JR Motorsports on Wednesday, the stress and strain of the past few months was gone.

Earnhardt will replace Kyle Busch in the Hendrick stable, which has suddenly become the New York Yankees of NASCAR.

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Jeff Gordon (left) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be teammates next season.

The team fields cars for four-time series champion Jeff Gordon, who leads all active drivers with 79 career victories, and defending Nextel Cup champion Jimmie Johnson. Busch and Casey Mears round out the team, which has combined to win 10 of 14 races this season.

Mears was thought to be expendable but shored up his seat with a win in last month's Coca-Cola 600. So it was Busch, who was signed through 2008, who was ousted after a successful but turbulent tenure.

He signed with Hendrick before his 18th birthday and has four Cup wins in his two-plus Cup seasons. But he's had run-ins with veteran drivers – including a recent wreck with older brother, Kurt, the 2004 series champion – that had tested Hendrick's patience.

"This Junior thing has stirred up the world," Hendrick said. "It's one of those deals where you say, 'Do I want to pass this up when you're so close to it?' Do you influence it or not try to influence it? Then the situation with Kyle came up, and all of a sudden the door opens."

Wednesday's announcement that Dale Earnhardt Jr. will join Hendrick Motorsports means the Nextel Cup Series' dominant team could become a juggernaut in 2008. The team's top trio – Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson – all have at least 17 wins since 2000. Compiled by Richard Durrett.

• 2004 Daytona 500 winner

• 4 seasons voted by the fans as NASCAR's most popular driver

• 2-time NASCAR Busch Series champion (1998, 1999)

• 4-time Cup champion (1995, 1997, 1998, 2001)

• 3-time Daytona 500 winner (1997, 1999, 2005)

• 6th on the career wins list with 79

• 2006 Nextel Cup champion

• 2006 Daytona 500 winner

• Top-5 finish in the point standings in all five Cup seasons