Dale Jr. Says Decision On New Team Not Likely Anytime Soon

Earnhardt Jr. Says He Will Take Time Making Decision On Next Move

NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., who announced his intention to leave DEI at the end of this season, said he will take the next couple of weeks before deciding on his next move. He added, “The licensing departments and marketing departments will tell you this and tell you that, and they need things done now. ... And they’ve got deadlines they have to meet and whatever to make product available for Daytona. I’m not concerned with them at all. I’m making the decision I want to make when I’m ready to make it” (“NASCAR Countdown,” ESPN2, 5/11). Asked about which team he will sign with, Earnhardt told Fox’ Darrell Waltrip there are “positives and negatives to every scenario. What’s really easy to do is go, ‘Well, these guys run good.’ ... I need to go see shops, see resources, meet employees and talk to the drivers and see what the interest is in them having me as a teammate” (Fox, 5/12).

REQUESTS FOR THE MEDIA TO CHILL: JR Motorsports Dir of Communications Mike Davis wrote on his blog, “There is a serious media fetish to report Junior’s next move before anyone else, and in the process, it has become a collective and classic example of lazy, gossipy, tabloid-esque reporting. ... A decision like that doesn’t come overnight, no matter what you read on Yahoo Sports” (INFIELDPARKING.com/mikedavis, 5/11).

CORPORATE SUPPORT: Earnhardt counts Budweiser, Chevrolet, Sharpie and Wrangler among his sponsors, and former NASCAR team owner Cal Wells indicated that “practically every sponsor writes an escape clause into its contracts in the case of a driver change.” SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL’s Michael Smith notes analysts said that Budweiser “likely spends well into the eight figures on national advertising, on top of the $20[M] or so it spends on the team sponsorship, making Bud among the top team sponsors in activation.” Chevrolet Dir of Retail Planning Jim Campbell: “We’re going to remain interested in continuing our partnership with Dale Jr.” Sharpie did not respond to interview requests (SBJ, 5/14 issue). Wrangler VP/Marketing Craig Errington said Earnhardt’s departure from DEI “does not affect our partnership and plans for the remainder of 2007. .... We will be interested to hear more from both DEI and Dale Jr. regarding their future plans” (Wrangler).

GIBBS: ESPN.com’s David Newton cited sources as saying that Earnhardt “won’t renegotiate a contract with [Budweiser] until he gets a deal with another organization,” which “means you can’t completely count out” Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), which has not accepted alcoholic beverage sponsors (ESPN.com, 4/13). A-B VP/Global Media & Sports Marketing Tony Ponturo said it is “certainly our intention” to follow Earnhardt to whichever team he goes. Ponturo: “We are close to it, but we are letting him go through this process that he needs to go through” (VIRGINIAN PILOT, 5/14). JGR President J.D. Gibbs said that his team “would talk to Earnhardt Jr. about possible opportunities despite his association with Budweiser being a major complication.” Gibbs “stopped short of saying the issue over a beer sponsorship would be a ‘deal-breaker’” (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 5/13). JGR would have to expand to four cars to accommodate Earnhardt, and Gibbs said, “We’ve added cars twice. Each time we spend a year and a half working on it and they still were hard. That’s a hard, hard deal setting up and putting a fourth car in in six months time” (SCENEDAILY.com, 4/13).

CHILDRESS: Richard Childress indicated that “there’s nothing to” reports that he has already agreed to a deal with Earnhardt (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 5/12). Childress added of Earnhardt, “I’m going to be honest with him. If I don’t think we can perform and can give him stuff — and we’ve got a couple of areas at RCR we’ve still got to work on. We’re winning races, we’re running good, but we’ve got to get better” (“NASCAR Countdown,” ESPN2, 5/11). Childress driver Jeff Burton: “There are a lot of things that have to go on between now and then. Richard has got to get committed to a fourth team and we’re not there yet” (ROANOKE TIMES, 5/12). Waltrip asked Earnhardt if he wants to drive the No. 3 car for RCR like his late father did. Earnhardt: “I would like to do that at the end of my career. I don’t want to drive the No. 3 for the next 15-20 years, how ever long I drive. ... That was my dad’s legacy ... and I don’t want to get in it and do anything to change that” (Fox, 5/12).

OTHER INTEREST: Team owner Bobby Ginn: “You want the best, the absolute best, and I love the idea that Dale wants to win championships. He could accomplish that here” (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 5/13). Bobby Ginn Racing GM Jay Frye: “Who wouldn’t talk to him? Opportunities like this don’t come often” (USA TODAY, 5/14). ESPN’s Marty Smith said Ginn “has the money. ... He’s a golf resort tycoon so the alcoholic beverage/golf resort business-to-business makes sense” (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 5/13). Earnhardt said he wants to continue to drive Chevrolets, but Ray Evernham, whose team runs Dodges, said of signing Earnhardt, “It’s like getting a date with Jennifer Aniston — you never know until you ask. So I’m going to ask” (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 5/12). Team owner Roger Penske: “We’re a Dodge team, we have drivers under contract today, and we’re not in a situation that we would probably be in line to offer him a job. I mean, we’d sure like to talk with him” (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/12).

BLAME TERESA: Earnhardt said of his relationship with his stepmother, DEI Owner Teresa Earnhardt, “I wasn’t happy for who I was driving for. ... There’s just a lot of tension there and it stems down from the top.” He said there is no chance he will return to DEI. Earnhardt: “They had their opportunity and this was a long negotiation. There ain’t no turning back” (Fox, 5/12). SI.com’s Lars Anderson: “The reason Earnhardt is leaving DEI can be summed up in two words: Teresa Earnhardt. Little E and his stepmother have a long and complicated history, just like any son and his stepmother.” Anderson added, “If Teresa would have handed operational control of DEI over to Junior and given him majority ownership of the company — two things, in fact, that Dale Sr. told me in '00 that he wanted Junior to have ... — Earnhardt would have signed a contract extension” (SI.com, 5/11). In Winston-Salem, Mike Mulhern: “Teresa has only herself to blame. ... She’s rarely if ever at the track during race weekends. She never talks to anybody about anything. She has become a NASCAR recluse” (WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL, 5/13).

MERGER STALLED? In Roanoke, Dustin Long noted merger talks between DEI and Robert Yates Racing (RYR) “could be at a standstill.” RYR co-Owner Doug Yates “said his team is committed to Ford,” and Teresa Earnhardt “has shown a similar loyalty to Chevrolet.” Yates: “That probably is a deal breaker” (ROANOKE TIMES, 5/12).

Writer Feels Elledge Has Become One Of Most Powerful Figures In NASCAR

GRACE KELLEY: In N.Y., Viv Bernstein wrote Earnhardt’s decision to leave DEI makes JR Motorsports President Kelley Earnhardt Elledge “one of the most powerful figures in NASCAR.” She runs the business operation of JR Motorsports “as well as the myriad licensing and marketing deals that involve Earnhardt. When somebody wants to do business with Earnhardt, they go through Elledge.” NASCAR VP/Corporate Communications Jim Hunter: “If I were going to do a list of the most influential people in this sport, she would be right up there with the France family, with [SMI President Humpy Wheeler] and [SMI Chair & CEO Bruton Smith]. ... She’s bright, she’s smart, she’s got her dad’s street smarts.” Elledge said, “I don’t feel the power, but I realize that I’m guiding and steering the career and the future of the biggest name in the sport” (N.Y. TIMES, 5/13).

FREE AGENCY: ESPN’s Smith reported “there was indifference” among drivers about whether Earnhardt’s free agency is good for NASCAR. Driver Dale Jarrett told Smith that Earnhardt “is just about the only guy that can go out and command that kind of money, with the sponsor in his pocket” (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 5/11).