Is Dale Jr. Leaving DEI??

If Jr is going to Hendrick, who is getting the boot, doesnt the 4 team cap start next season?
Could you see this, Gordon winning the championship this year and retiring, and Jr getting the #24 car.

If he does join he may take Mears ride if Mears does not pick things up.
 
So, it is looking like he wil be a free agent. This will create more speculation than Nascar has seen in quite some time. It is possible that he is bluffing and may still end up with DEI, but by the press release DEI just put out, I doubt it. I think he will end up with one of these three teams... Gibbs, Childress, or Hendricks...forget even thinking that Hendricks doesn't have room, they can make room for JR, or they are idiots. If I was Casey Mears, I would be a little concerned for my job. Childress has room for a fourth driver, and Gibbs could make room as well. Remember a few races back, JR was friving Kyle Bush's car at the end of a race, could have been sort of a job interview type thing.

I don't think Jr. needs a job interview.
I doubt he ends up with Gibbs due to thier stance on No Alcohol sponsers.
I would like to see him with Hendricks .... Casey Mears would be moved along if that came about.
He would also look good at Childress in the # 3.
I can picture him driving a Black car with the Budweiser sponsor on it !

Jimbo
 
funny, i had this crazy thought about dj signing with dei next season. god only knows what the state of michael waltrip racing will be in by the end of 2007!

I would like to see that happen, it would be an upgrade for DJ and get him back to running with a team that has done it for quite awhile.

I'm not really suprised to see Micheal Waltrip struggling, but I did expect more from the team and Toyota.

Jimbo
 
If Jr is going to Hendrick, who is getting the boot, doesnt the 4 team cap start next season?
Could you see this, Gordon winning the championship this year and retiring, and Jr getting the #24 car.

If he does join he may take Mears ride if Mears does not pick things up.

Gordon is not going anywhere, if Jr. comes to Hendricks there are alot of ways to get around the 4 car limit, but I think 1st Mears would be gone, perticularly seeing he's struggling this year so bad.

Jimbo
 
http://media.gm.com/servlet/Gateway...s/viewpressreldetail.do?domain=40&docid=36098

Statement from Brent Dewar; General Motors North America Vice President of Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing

Regarding the Dale Earnhardt, Jr. announcement to leave Dale Earnhardt, Inc. at the end of the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup season:


“Chevrolet and General Motors are proud of our long-standing relationship with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. For more than 20 years, the Earnhardt family has relied on Chevrolet products to achieve their legendary on-track success. As the winningest nameplate in NASCAR, Chevrolet shares the individual goals of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to win races and championships. We look forward to discussing future opportunities with DEI and Dale, Jr."


CONTACT(S):
Jan Thomas
 
He would also look good at Childress in the # 3.
I can picture him driving a Black car with the Budweiser sponsor on it !

I have a feeling that he will make the move over to Childress but he will not be driving the #3. He has made statements in the past that it would be very difficult to drive that car.
 
Latest news from Jayski.com, looks like Jr might be in #33 RCR Budweiser Chevrolet...

UPDATE: FOX8 News has confirmed Junior is negotiating late Thursday night with Richard Childress to join Richard Childress Racing. An announcement could come as early as Friday. Childress has scheduled a news conference Friday at Darlington Raceway, the site of Saturday's Nextel Nextel Cup race. Sports Director Rich Brenner has also confirmed the talks between Junior and Childress include plans for Earnhardt driving the #33 Chevrolet for RCR. Budweiser, the primary sponsor for Junior's #8 car with DEI, will follow him to his new race team. (FOX8 News)(5-11-2007)

http://www.jayski.com/cupnews.htm#news3
 
Latest news from Jayski.com, looks like Jr might be in #33 RCR Budweiser Chevrolet...

UPDATE: FOX8 News has confirmed Junior is negotiating late Thursday night with Richard Childress to join Richard Childress Racing. An announcement could come as early as Friday. Childress has scheduled a news conference Friday at Darlington Raceway, the site of Saturday's Nextel Nextel Cup race. Sports Director Rich Brenner has also confirmed the talks between Junior and Childress include plans for Earnhardt driving the #33 Chevrolet for RCR. Budweiser, the primary sponsor for Junior's #8 car with DEI, will follow him to his new race team. (FOX8 News)(5-11-2007)

http://www.jayski.com/cupnews.htm#news3

Not so fast on the confirmed RCR talks ...

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?seriesId=2&id=2867610
 
Yeah, the media was in a bit of a feeding frenzy over this last night and early this morning when I posted that story and it has since been denied, looks like they have cooled off a bit now. I think it will be a couple weeks or more before we hear anything official, could be a couple months.

I think your right about the delay time before agreeing with anyone, that gives the media even more time to speculate about it.
I wonder how Jr feels about now, with everything starting to focus on him.
Sure hope he has a good race tonight !

I still think he will end up with Childress, kit would be the obvious choice, Hendricks would also be nice, but I doubt that will happen.

It would be good for Childress, seeing he's haveing a good year with J. Burton and the others, Jr. would add another big name to his stable.

Jimbo
 
10 to 1 says Jr drives the #3 for RCR next year.

I wouldn't be surprised to see him with RCR, but I will be surprised if he drives the #3. Childress has stated in the past he thinks the number should be retired and Jr. has mentioned he doesn't really want to drive it until he is near retirement.

I think the darkhorse to win Dale Jr. could be Ginn racing. He is spending butt loads of money on that operation in the last several months since buying it from MB2, and look how well Mark Martin has been in that car as a part time driver. Not too mention they have Hendrick engines in their cars. Ginn has already confirmed he will pursue Jr. and the more I read about the the guy, I think he and Jr. could be a good fit for each other.
 
I wouldn't be surprised to see him with RCR, but I will be surprised if he drives the #3. Childress has stated in the past he thinks the number should be retired and Jr. has mentioned he doesn't really want to drive it until he is near retirement.

I think the darkhorse to win Dale Jr. could be Ginn racing. He is spending butt loads of money on that operation in the last several months since buying it from MB2, and look how well Mark Martin has been in that car as a part time driver. Not too mention they have Hendrick engines in their cars. Ginn has already confirmed he will pursue Jr. and the more I read about the the guy, I think he and Jr. could be a good fit for each other.

IF Nascar ever retires the Black # 3, it will still be available for Jr. to drive if he wants too.
I could see him driving it on occasion over the next number of years, but not on a regular basis, provided he goes with RCR.

I think he would like to buy his # 8 fromTheresa, but I don't know if teams and Nascar ever allows that type of thing to happen, seing the numbers are owned by the team.

I would call GinnRacing a REAL darkhorse, I really don't see him going that way, heck, Gibbs racing is a dark horse, due to the self imposed "No Alcohol" sponsors , otherwise that would also be a good fit, with Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin good friends with Jr. already.
According to Gibbs comments, they would like to sit down with Jr. and talk, (but so would everyone), they may be able to work something out, but it did'nt sound like they really wanted to go back on the alcohol agreement.

This came from Jayski's site.
http://www.jayski.com/teams/18.htm

Jimbo
 
IF Nascar ever retires the Black # 3, it will still be available for Jr. to drive if he wants too.
I could see him driving it on occasion over the next number of years, but not on a regular basis, provided he goes with RCR.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/6804580


Darrell Waltrip: I remember you and me talking about you driving the car with the 3 on it. How do you feel about that? Dale Earnhardt Jr.: In a perfect world, I would like to do that at the end of my career. I don't want to drive the No. 3 car for the next 15 to 20 years, however long I drive. I don't want to be in that car every year. That was my dad's legacy. That was his number. He made that what it is. It was his. And I don't want to get in it and do anything to change that.

I think he would like to buy his # 8 fromTheresa, but I don't know if teams and Nascar ever allows that type of thing to happen, seing the numbers are owned by the team.

Nascar does allow teams to buy numbers from other teams, but I doubt Teresa will let him have it. A couple years ago Michael Waltrip wanted to buy the #15 from her but she wouldn't let it him. I doubt she will treat Jr. any differently seeing how strained their relationship is.
 
http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/6804580

Nascar does allow teams to buy numbers from other teams, but I doubt Teresa will let him have it. A couple years ago Michael Waltrip wanted to buy the #15 from her but she wouldn't let it him. I doubt she will treat Jr. any differently seeing how strained their relationship is.

Thanks for that bit of info, I always thought I'd been told that Nascar would not allow numbers to change teams, but maybe that was because the owners owned them, I guess if they wanted to sell them then they could .... ?

Theresa would want another 51 % for the # 8.

I know that Ralph Earnhardt ran the 8 and thats why Jr took it, but was the 8 just a idle number before Jr. decided to run it ?
I don't recall seeing it prior to Jr. (never saw Ralph run).
Was it already owned by the DEI, or did Nascar have it sitting for anyone at the time (before Jr.) ?

Jimbo
 
actually, junior took number 8 because daddy bought it. been a few years ago and i don't remember the specifics. i always thought nascar owned the numbers, not the teams. and i've been following the sport for quite sometime.
 
actually, junior took number 8 because daddy bought it. been a few years ago and i don't remember the specifics. i always thought nascar owned the numbers, not the teams. and i've been following the sport for quite sometime.

I think technically NASCAR owns all the numbers, but teams pay for the right to reserve certain numbers (kind of like a lease I think) For example, right now NASCAR owns the #3, but RCR controls it because they are paying for it yearly. IF RCR quit paying for it, it would go up for grabs to another team, or RCR could sell it to another team. But in the end NASCAR does own the numbers and can refuse to let a certain team buy or sell a number, or NASCAR could forcefully retake ownership of a number and allow another team to purchase it, but I don't think this has ever happened. Clear as mud?

That is how I understand it.
 
Thanks for that bit of info, I always thought I'd been told that Nascar would not allow numbers to change teams, but maybe that was because the owners owned them, I guess if they wanted to sell them then they could .... ?

Theresa would want another 51 % for the # 8.

I know that Ralph Earnhardt ran the 8 and thats why Jr took it, but was the 8 just a idle number before Jr. decided to run it ?
I don't recall seeing it prior to Jr. (never saw Ralph run).
Was it already owned by the DEI, or did Nascar have it sitting for anyone at the time (before Jr.) ?

Jimbo


Link to NASCAR car #8 history
http://www.nascar.com/kyn/nbtn/cup/data/car/car_number_8.html
 

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