By Staff
MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced Thursday morning that he will leave the company his late father founded at the end of the season.
Earnhardt Jr. has been in negotiations with Dale Earnhardt Inc. for a year, along with his sister Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, vice president and general manager of JR Motorsports.
Those negotiations, which had been kept pretty close to the vest, apparently went nowhere the NASCAR world found out Thurday.
Earnhardt Jr. opened his press conference by reading a statement and then taking questions from the media.
"We're here today to talk, at last, about my contract at DEI," Earnhardt Jr. read from a prepared statement. "First off, let me say how much I appreciate the media understanding and being patient throughout the negotiations to keep this as private as we wanted to keep it. For those of you who know me, you know I hate keeping things under wraps, and I'm usually pretty honest, but it was something that was absolutely necessary as the negotiations progressed. I told you all season long that when we have something to announce, we'd announce it. So we're calling this press conference here today to announce that after a year of intense negotiations and intense effort on behalf of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and JR Motorsports, that we've decided it is time for us to move on and seek other opportunities to drive for a new team in 2008."
While the announcement came as somewhat of a surprise, no one was completely shocked by the decision.
Earnhardt Jr. and stepmother Teresa Earnhardt, owner of DEI, seems to have been at odds during the whole process.
Still, Earnhardt Jr., who apparently wanted controlling interest in the company, seemed willing to work toward resolving the contract issues.
But in the end, it appears that the two sides never were close to a deal.
"We've both worked extremely hard to find a common ground, but as the negotiations continued, one thing became evident, we both want to get to the same place, but we both simply have different visions on how to get there," he continued. "Because DEI means so much to me, I felt it was best now for both of us to start focusing on our future so that we both could come out of this successfully. Trust me when I say that DEI will come out of this successfully. Teresa and Max Seigel are taking the necessary steps to bring DEI back to one of the front-running NASCAR teams. However, at 32 years of age, the same age as my father was when he made his final and most important career decision, it is time for me to compete on a consistent basis and contend for championships now.
Earnhardt Jr. said he didn't know what team he would drive for in 2008. However, he seemed to make it clear on Monday that he wanted to continue his long-standing partnership with Chevrolet.
"We have a great relationship with Budweiser and those things will definitely be discussed and dealt with in a timely fashion," Earhnardt Jr. said. "I enjoy driving Chevrolets and my relationship with Chevrolet is very, very strong and I feel like that is where I'd be best suited to continue driving Chevrolets."
That would leave three teams near the top of the list when it came to wooing NASCAR's most popular driver.
The sentimental favorite would be Richard Childress Racing, the team his late father drove for and won six of his record seven NASCAR championships with.
Earhardt Jr. has remained close to owner Richard Childress through the years. Childress also owns the right to the No. 3, which his late father drove.
Recently, Childress said that he would be open to starting up a fourth team. He also commented that they could paint the car "red" in obvious reference to Earnhardt's association with Budweiser, which will surely follow him to his new team.
Kevin Harvick, who replaced Earnhardt Sr. following his death at RCR, has openly invited the younger Earnhardt to join RCR.
The second team which seems like a good fit is Joe Gibbs Racing.
Earnhardt Jr. is close friends with both Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin, both drivers at Gibbs Racing. That company also has the ability to add a fourth team, which is NASCAR's limit.
The third Chevrolet heavyweight is Hendricks Motorsports. Hendricks is currently dominating the NEXTEL Cup, but has a full stable of four drivers. It would seem unlikely that they would drop a driver to add Earnhardt.
The two could, however, join forces if Junior starts his own NEXTEL Cup team at JR Motorsports. Henricks could provide chassis and motors for the team.
That seemed like the least possible idea according to Elledge.
"We have like Dale said, our work cut out for us to engage ourselves with other teams and listen to what the opportunities are and I believe our first choice would be to drive for another top competitive team," she said. "Our last choice would be to form our own Cup team. But if that was necessary, that's what we would do."
Earnhardt Jr. said that he will continue to driver hard for DEI and try to help the team be successful this season. He also said that he expected the company to be strong in the future as well.
"I believe DEI can still be successful as a functioning race team, and as a motorsports program," he said. "It may not have the… it may not be the exact thing that my father wanted, but I feel like it can be successful. I feel like Max Siegel's going to be a huge asset to the company as he learns and develops and understands the business itself. I think when he starts moving and shaking, things will really start happening for that company, and that he can get out of it, I believe, what he expects."
While many think that Earnhardt Jr. will have truckloads of money thrown his way in an effort to land the star driver, he said it has never been about the money. He said that he wants to contend and win championships.
He hasn't been a contender at DEI since 2004 when he won six races. The following year, Teresa Earnhardt broke up his team and he failed to make the Chase for the Championship, NASCAR's version of the playoffs.
He was reunited with his original team last season, qualified for the Chase, but was never a serious contender.
Earnhardt Jr. currently sits 12th in the NEXTEL Cup standings, the final position to make the Chase.