Here's the latest updates from Jayski.com. Marty Smith from ESPN is pretty reliable and he says Jr is going to Hendrick to drive the 5 or 25. Looks like Kyle Busch might be out at Hendrick. Can you Imagine how Hendrick might look next season? JR, Gordon & Johnson!! This is almost going to be unfair for the competition, that organization is going to have the two most popular drivers, arguably three of the most talented drivers, and unlimited financial resources.
Dale Jr. to make announcement Wed. UPDATE 2 looks like to Hendrick #5: could this be the big announcement of where Dale Earnhardt Jr. will go and who he will drive for in 2008 and the future? NASCAR Nextel Cup driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. has scheduled a news conference for Wednesday at 11:00a,/et at his JR Motorsports race shop. [This is NOT open to the public] A full transcript will be released shortly after the news conference.(JR Motorsports PR)
SPEED to televise UPDATE: must be big....SPEED will interrupt regularly scheduled programming Wednesday morning, June 13 at 10:00am/et in anticipation of a live press conference from JR Motorsports about the future plans of Nextel Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. At 11:00am/et, John Roberts will host a special live edition of The SPEED Report, with Bob Dillner on site in Mooresville, N.C. The press conference is expected to last one hour. At 7:00pm/et, SPEED will present a special half-hour edition of The SPEED Report to summarize the day's events.
XM Radio Sports Nation (XM channel 144) will also air the press conference live.
AND SIRIUS Satellite Radio will provide listeners with comprehensive live coverage of the news conference on Sirius NASCAR Radio channel 128
UPDATE: Officials with Ginn Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing each said their teams were not involved in the news conference while a spokesperson for Richard Childress Racing said the team owner is out of the country [New Zealand] on a hunting trip and that he is not expected to be back in the country tomorrow. A Hendrick Motorsports spokesman had no comment. A call to Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s spokesman was not immediately returned.(
SceneDaily.com)
UPDATE 2: ESPN.com's Marty Smith reports: Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Wednesday will announce his intent to drive the #5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy in 2008, multiple sources with intimate knowledge of negotiations told
ESPN.com Tuesday on condition of anonymity. Hendrick Motorsports declined comment Tuesday, and e-mails and calls sent to Earnhardt's representation were not returned. Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, who has handled contract negotiations for her brother, declined to comment on the report. There was some speculation that the wheels are already in motion to plant Earnhardt in the #5 now driven by Kyle Busch before season's end, but Dale Earnhardt, Inc. president Max Siegel, contacted by phone Tuesday, discounted that scenario, saying Earnhardt would remain in the #8 through season's end. Sources said there are indications that Busch may not finish the year in the #5. Busch is under contract with HMS through the end of next season, and Hendrick had been working to sign the 22-year old driver to an extension. Jeff Dickerson, an attorney for Busch, told ESPN.com that "a lot of things may or may not occur. Out of respect for Hendrick Motorsports, we're not really sure what's going on yet. But we're trying. I don't think anything's changed yet. I can not tell you that Kyle is out of the #5 for 2008." Meanwhile, one potential scenario would be Casey Mears moving to the #5 and Earnhardt moving to the #25 currently being driven by Mears [Budweiser sponsored Hendrick and the #25 for many years]. It is unknown whether sponsor Budweiser will follow Earnhardt to Hendrick.(
ESPN.com), the
Associated Press is reporting similar news/speculation.(6-12-2007)
