Dale Earnhardt Jr, Tony Stewart Gain Momentum Heading into 2007

The 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup season was a punishing one for the inestimable Dale Earnhardt Jr fans, as NASCAR's most admired driver slumped through what could be considered the worst year of his career that began in 2000. Earnhardt Jr scored a single victory and finished 19th in the final Nextel Cup championship standings.

For most of the 2006 season, Earnhardt Jr has been among the top ten in the Nextel Cup standings, and has shown continual progress throughout the season. Basically, Earnhardt Jr is several steps ahead of where he and the 8 team were in 2005, but they have yet to reach the standard that they set in 2004 when they won six races, and finished 5th in the final Nextel Cup championship standings.

But the Earnhardt Jr/Tony Eury Jr coalition has built some steam recently. After the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, Earnhardt was third in the Nextel Cup standings, 78 points behind championship leader Jimmie Johnson. But even if they fall short of that elusive Nextel Cup title, the 8-team will begin the 2007 NASCAR season with searing confidence.

Earnhardt Jr's intermediate program has become one of the most improved in NASCAR this season, as they scored a third place finish at Atlanta a couple of weeks ago, and followed that up with a sixth place finish at Texas. Both Atlanta and Texas are 1.5-mile venues.

But the momentum that Earnhardt Jr has built recently pales in comparison to the momentum that Tony Stewart has amassed over the previous seven or eight races. Stewart marginally missed the Nextel Cup Chase for the Championship back in September, which was due in large part to a mid-summer slump. But Stewart has noticeably outshined the ten Nextel Cup championship contenders, including championship leader Jimmie Johnson, with three wins over a span of seven races.

Stewart may have stolen a victory at Kansas by virtue of fuel mileage, but he emphatically dominated the two races at Atlanta and Texas, leading the most laps in each of those events.

If only Tony Stewart could have evaded a couple of miscues throughout the summer, he may have been well on his way to his second consecutive Nextel Cup title.

When the 2007 preview guides hit the shelves in January, you can bet that both Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr will be among the list of favorites.