Jeff Gluck

USA TODAY Sports

PHOENIX — Even if he never wins again, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will make the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

His second Daytona 500 victory Sunday sealed his spot. Those wins are among 20 in his Sprint Cup career to go with two Nationwide Series championships and six berths in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. This year will make seven.

Off the track, his contributions have been even greater. He's been the face of NASCAR for the majority of his 15-year Cup career, even when the success didn't come. Earnhardt is the 11-time reigning most popular driver, as voted on by fans.

The combination of those achievements will be enough to satisfy Hall voters at some point. And if the 39-year-old keeps racing for another decade, which is possible, his numbers will only get better.

Of course, the knock on Earnhardt is he isn't his seven-time champion father, who was a member of the Hall's first class enshrined in 2010.

In fact, Earnhardt hasn't won a Cup championship at all; maybe he never will. While many people will argue that a championship is necessary — for example, Mark Martin, eligible for the first time this year, was left off the ballot despite having 40 wins — Earnhardt is worthy of consideration.

Plus, the Hall of Fame is shaping up to be an increasingly driver-friendly place, and most of the greats will already be in the Hall by the time Earnhardt retires.

Just look at the numbers:

--Earnhardt is currently tied for 38th on the all-time Cup wins list. Of the 37 drivers ahead of him, 15 are in the Hall of Fame; 11 are not yet eligible.

--That leaves just 11 Hall-eligible drivers ahead of Earnhardt on the all-time wins list. Six of those are nominees for next year's class, so it stands to reason they'll get in soon.

NASCAR's Hall of Fame has been inducting people at a rapid pace. Unlike the pro football, baseball and hockey halls of fame, there is no required vote percentage for induction; the five top vote-getters currently make it each year (though NASCAR has hinted that could eventually change). A 54-member voting panel decides from a list of 20 nominees.

And a new wrinkle in the nominating process has made the Hall even more driver-friendly. In the first few years, drivers shared the ballot with contributors such as Anne B. France (wife of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. who served as the first secretary/treasurer of NASCAR), T. Wayne Robertson and Ralph Seagraves (R.J. Reynolds executives who helped introduce and build the Winston brand in NASCAR's premier Cup series.)

But beginning this year, NASCAR introduced its Landmark Award, which honors those who helped build NASCAR. It's a way to recognize the people vital to the sport's growth without necessarily making them Hall of Famers.

The existence of the Landmark Award has already had an impact on the makeup of the nominees. Last year, 56% of the Hall nominees were on the list primarily for their driving careers. This year, that number jumped to 70% when the nominees were announced Feb 21.

Within a decade, the magic number of wins for Hall inclusion will be 20. That means perhaps 15 current drivers will make it.

Six-time champion Jimmie Johnson, four-time champion Jeff Gordon, three-time champion Tony Stewart, 2003 champion Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch, who has won 127 national series races, are locks. But Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick will make it in, too. So will 2004 titlist Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards.

Earnhardt will be among that group based on the numbers game.

But does he deserve to be in?

Yes. Voters have shown they are eager to honor those who made an impact on the sport both on and off the track.

Earnhardt has done that in many ways. When it comes to racing, each victory will bolster his resume and strengthen his on-track credentials.

Off the track, his popularity was never more evident than this week. Earnhardt started tweeting and immediately surpassed every NASCAR driver in Twitter followers except Johnson (who he's on pace to catch within the next couple of days) and Danica Patrick (who has been tweeting for five years and was the first NASCAR driver to reach 1 million followers).

That's what a Hall of Fame should be: A museum of the biggest stars and legends, a place where those people can be remembered by future generations.

In the shadow of his Hall-of-Fame dad, the younger Earnhardt has made his own mark on NASCAR. Eventually, he will be — and deserves to be — enshrined among the greats.

Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck