Hendrick, eh?

Well, Junior has made his choice. Hendrick Motorsports for the next five years.

"I wanted to do what was right for me as a person, give the fans what the expect and deserve and have some fun along the way," Junior said.

Not really a surprise. Hendrick has been the dominating team this season with a darn good chance at the championship. Which is exactly what Junior wants.

As an earlier comment noted today, what's the JR Nation gonna do having to share team with Jeff Gordon?

Granted that's a formidable stable of cars and Junior will have his best shot at a Championship in the near future. Junior in a Hendrick car, especially in the COT next year. Let's face it, that team has perfected the COT and it will be great to see Junior in a car that has a real chance to win.

All this leads to the next question.

What will happen to the kid? Not Gordon's soon-to-be born, but Kyle Busch. Granted, he's a bit of a hothead (OK, a major hothead) But I don't recall Kyle ever saying he wanted out of his contract. That was his big brother and Roush Racing.

Break out the conspiracy theories. Kyle's demise may have been the day he stormed away from his car and Junior took it back onto the track, earning the kid a few points. From Rick Hendrick's comments, it sounds like negotiations on the contract extension broke down right after that.

It didn't mean a thing, Junior said of hopping into the 5 car.

Oh, really?

In this morning's press conference, Rick Hendrick said he'd been negotiating a contract extension with Kyle since 2006, but Hendrick saw other teams talking to the young Busch.

But about the time of the Coke 600, it "became obvious a fresh start would be good for both of us," Hendrick said without further explaination. "I had an unbelievable opportunity and we both agreed to pursue the opportunities."