Dale Earnhardt Jr. will drive for Hendrick Motorsports beginning 2008… cue the beer boys, “Brilliant!”

As he told me in Bristol earlier this year, yes, he believes he may need a championship to validate his career (at least to the fans), so what better way to do that than join up with the best and brightest team in NASCAR.  (Click here for the ESPN2 Interview from Bristol)  This was a SWEET move for Dale Jr. – a 5 year deal that surely will grow beyond that to perhaps become a permanent home.

But with that said, now many, many questions arise… with the 4 car team cap in NASCAR, who will Dale Jr. replace at Hendrick Motorsports?  That one is an easy answer… Kyle Busch.  Kyle will swap teams and race for Dale’s former team DEI in 2008.

So what negotiations can be done with DEI (aka Teresa Earnhardt) regarding sponsorship and car numbers?  In other words, is there any possibility Dale can bring the #8 over to Hendrick and maybe exchange the #5 back for Kyle at DEI?  Dale and Rick Hendrick both mentioned in the press conference that they will indeed need to talk to Teresa to work it out (then they chuckled), so yes it is a possibility… start the email campaign to Teresa now…
   “Dear Teresa, Please agree to exchange numbers so one of NASCAR’s superstars
   can keep the #8 (and those fans won’t need to replace ALL the merchandise they
   own).”

BUT, remember the Bud commercial where Dale changes his number and the world freaks out… ha, ha, ha… be careful what you wish for…

Now what about sponsorship?  Can the same be done with sponsorship that is possible with the car numbers?  Can Dale bring Budweiser to Hendrick (remember this team has raced with Budweiser in the past) in exchange for Kyle taking Kellogg’s to DEI?  Again, the answer was met with a few glances at each other (which means they are talking about it but can’t say anything just yet), though this may be a more difficult negotiation than the car number.  Sponsor execs will need to agree to the exchange, and that is sometimes a tougher sell.  So again, start the email campaigns to the Kellogg’s and Budweiser marketing teams…
    “Dear Kellogg’s people, Please agree to move to DEI with driver Kyle Busch so that
    we diehard Dale Jr. Budweiser #8 fans can be happy and not need to replace our
    Jr. merchandise.”

Yep, it’s all about the Jr. fans isn’t it.
    “Dear Budweiser, Please stay with Jr. at Hendrick (even though we know you will)…
    Please force Kellogg’s hand and make them move so you won’t need to share a car
    with cereal… I mean seriously, the thought of beer and cereal makes me want to
    puke!”

Now for the fans, holy cow this is large.  Dale Sr. fans (who many have migrated over to become a Dale Jr. fan) have typically hated Hendrick racing driver Jeff Gordon.  And recently, Dale Jr. fans have grown to hate Hendrick racing driver Jimmie Johnson.  How in the heck will this shake out?  Well, Dale stated that he and Jeff are indeed friends and that Jeff was also a good friend to his father, Dale Sr.  Jeff has helped Jr. over the years so as to pay back Dale Sr. for all the advice and wisdom he shared… Jeff and Dale Jr. are just fine… fans, get used to it.  Regarding Jimmie, Dale says that he is one of the reasons Jimmie is even in the Cup series… but also that they are friends, too, so again fans, get used to it.

Seriously, why can’t we all just get along?

Finally, a part of the press conference that I found special was when team owner Rick Hendrick told a story about his son.  He said that a few years back, Ricky Hendrick (who was driving at the time, but en route to team ownership and management) began forging a friendship with Dale Jr.  After a Busch race where he drove door to door with Dale, he got out of the car and told his father that he wanted to sign Dale Jr. to drive.  Rick just shrugged it off sarcastically and said, “Yeah, that will happen.”  But Ricky really made it one of his goals to one day sign Dale Jr… and now look what has happened.  Ricky’s management goals were indeed met, even from Heaven.  Funny how things work, eh?

So yeah, debate this decision as you may, but truly it was the best one Dale Jr. could have made.  Now if Teresa will cooperate and allow the exchange of numbers and money, all will be right with the NASCAR world again.  Right?

CrashG@SpeedFreaks.TV

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