This one his hit me with a little bit of shocking and disappointing as I am a Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan. So here it is, last Thursday morning at his JR Motorsports shop, Dale Jr made a statement and answered questions as he announced that after a year of talks with DEI about a new contract, he has decided to explore other options and he is a free agent.
I watched this press conference live on SPEED that morning and at first I was disappointed, but after thinking about it, I am also excited to see Jr. move on to another team and put himself into a position to once again win races and win a championship. For right now, DEI just doesn’t work for him right now.
So what is Dale Jr’s options for 2008 and beyond, I have been reading and listening to all of the talk on this and his options are simple as he laid out during his announcement.1. Drive for a Top Tier Team, hopefully under the Chevrolet banner.2. Drive for a Second Tier Team hopefully under the Chevrolet banner.3. Last option, Start his own Cup team under JR Motorsports with Chevrolet and lease engines.
Basically Dale Jr’s options are:
Hendrick Motorsports which unless Hendrick makes room for him by removing one of his current drivers is not really an option. RCR that has room and is where Dale Earnhardt Sr. raced and won six of his seven championship. Gibbs racing where he could either take over the #18 car which is a long shot or go to a fourth team. And Ginn Racing has come out and said that they are interest in him and they do have room for him. Outside of Chevrolet, Roush is full with five teams and they need to subtract down to four for the 2009 season. Penske Racing has also spoke that he would like to talk to Dale Jr. about driving for him as well, a Dodge team. And maybe Ray Everham Motorsports too
One Day later...Fuel for thought
After watching WindTunnel last night in hearing Ed Hinton's comments, "Jr. will go to Hendrick Motorsports, Ginn racing is somewhat of a satelite to Hendrick, so maybe one of the younger Hendrick drivers sent out to Ginn on maybe the promise of more money and a higher profile." This quote may come true, think about it..
So bottom line in my opinion, Dale Jr. proving he will stay with Chevrolet brand, he will go to Hendrick Motorsports in either the #5 or #25 car or to Richard Childress Racing to drive a fourth car with a different number and maybe Budweiser as sponser or VISA possible. I don't see the #8 number coming along or maybe even Budweiser...if no Budweiser, a third outcome would be Gibbs Racing in either #18 or a fourth ride (Gibbs: Budweiser could be a deal breaker). In the last resort column, I don't see it, but his own team at JR Motorsports with leasing Hendrick Engines considering JR Motorsports builds SPEED's RaceDay track car and they are powered by Hendrick Engines.
Finally this is what I think on the subject, but don’t expect Dale Jr. to make an announcement for several weeks, look towards July or August and just let him think about for a while.
One note: Someone said something about next season's paint schemes for diecasts needing to be submitted by around July deadline to be available for Daytona?
Well that’s it for me… See Yeah!
