NASCAR silly season officially began last month when Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced that he was leaving Dale Earnhardt Inc. at the end of this season. The only thing he said was that he wanted to continue driving a Chevy. The obvious answer to this is Hendrick Motorsports. They're the best organization. But with NASCAR instituting a four car limit in Nextel Cup in 2009, Rick Hendrick said three weeks ago that he already has four cars and doesn't have room for Dale Jr. So after plenty of rumour and speculation, Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced this morning that he will join Hendrick Motorsports in 2008.
So what changed? Rick Hendrick said that he was negotiating to extend Kyle Busch's contract. During these negotiations, it became clear that Busch had been contacted by other teams and wanted to listen to them. Hendrick decided two weeks ago to let Busch out of his contract at the end of the 2007 season. That opened the door to negotiate with Dale Earnhardt Jr. It is not yet known what car number he will drive or who his sponsor will be. It is also not known where Kyle Busch will drive though speculation is he will go to Dale Earnhardt Inc. It should be interesting to see how the sponsorship issues with Budweiser, Kellogg's & Carquest are resolved.
One of the key things is that Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the number one driver at DEI. At Hendrick, he's number three behind Jeff Gordon & Jimmy Johnson. That takes a lot of pressure off him. Dale Jr. said during the press conference that he was very anxious about this whole process but he knew he couldn't rush into a decision. Fortunately, his sister Kelley Earnhardt Elledge handled the negotiations and she deserves a lot of credit for leading him to this point. Dale Earnhardt Jr. got what he wanted. He's in the best equipment and there's no excuse for not winning a championship. Here's a video clip from this morning's press conference of Dale Earnhardt Jr. announcing his decision.
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