Chrud Posted May 9, 2007 Report Share Posted May 9, 2007 Not surprised about the team, but shocked about who the motors are coming from. Copied from Jayski.com _______________ Dale Jr. & Truex to JR Motorsports? Dave Moody reported on Wednesday afternoon's Sirius Speedway that Dale Earnhardt Jr. will announce tomorrow at JR Motorsports, that both he and #1-Martin Truex, Jr. will drive in the Nextel Cup Series for JR Motorsports in 2008. Hendrick Motorsports will provide engines for the team. A press conference is reportedly planned for 11:00am/et at JR Motorsports headquarters.(5-9-2007) _______________ Some other info for you also, from Jayski.com _______________ Dale Jr. leans toward Hendrick? UPDATE denied: The efforts to sign #8-Dale Earnhardt Jr. to a NASCAR driving contract for 2008 and beyond has reached a critical point, and the top two teams on Earnhardt’s list are the Chevrolet teams owned by Richard Childress and Rick Hendrick, according to men familiar with the negotiations. Earnhardt today is leaning toward a deal with Hendrick [NOTE: where would Earnhardt go? HMS has four Cup teams and all three drivers signed for a couple more years, unless some sort of deal with Haas CNC Racing or Ginn Racing would be worked out], largely because of Hendrick’s very strong engine program, sources here said yesterday. Earnhardt and veteran crew chief Tony Eury Jr., his cousin and close confidante as well as the man who has led him to many of his 17 Cup victories, have talked with both the Hendrick and Childress camps in recent weeks about the positives and negatives each team owner would have to offer, sources said yesterday. And Eury will have a major voice in the decision, because Earnhardt’s primary goal now, at age 32, is to win a championship.(Winston Salem Journal)(5-9-2007) UPDATE: Hendrick Motorsports General Manager Marshall Carlson told Sirius NASCAR Radio's Sirius Speedway Tuesday that his team is fully stocked with drivers for 2008 and beyond, and that he has not spoken with Dale Earnhardt, Jr., about the possibility of joining the Hendrick stable. "We have four outstanding drivers in Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Casey Mears, and all of them are signed to long-term contracts," he said. "Dale Earnhardt, Jr., is obviously a very talented driver, but all of our seats are filled." Asked by host Dave Moody if that meant Hendrick would not be interested in Earnhardt under any circumstances, Carlson said, "I never say `never' in this business. Again, Dale is a very talented driver that any team would be interested in having in one of their cars. But we are extremely satisfied with our four driver/team combinations, and we have contracts in place for all our key players."(Sirius NASCAR Radio's Sirius Speedway)(5-9-2007) http://www.jayski.com Direct link to info: http://http://www.jayski.com/teams/8.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texastrophies Posted May 9, 2007 Report Share Posted May 9, 2007 Interesting! I wonder what number he will be running? I would assume DEI will keep the 8 and not let him have it. There must be some hard feelings, because he had supposedly been waiting till the end of the month for this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VermontHunter Posted May 9, 2007 Report Share Posted May 9, 2007 Here's What Nascar.com Is Reporting... Report: Junior to drive for JR Motorsports in 2008 By NASCAR.COM May 9, 2007 06:42 PM EDT What subject does Dale Earnhardt Jr. want to talk about? Members of the media have been invited to a Thursday morning news conference at the JR Motorsports race shop in Mooresville, N.C. However, details of the conference were not provided, lending speculation that it may involve his contract negotiations with Dale Earnhardt Inc. Dave Moody reported Wednesday afternoon on Sirius Speedway that speculation is Junior and Martin Truex Jr. will drive Nextel Cup cars under the JR Motorsports banner in 2008 with Hendrick Motorsports providing engines. SPEED will interrupt regularly scheduled programming to go live from the JR Motorsports race shop at 11 a.m. ET for the news conference. Junior's contract with DEI is scheduled to run out at the end of the season, and he and sister Kelley Earnhardt Elledge have been involved in talks with team officials. Both parties have stated in the past that they want to have the issue resolved by May. During Media Day at Daytona International Speedway in February, Junior first mentioned his desire to obtain a majority ownership in the company founded by his father, a demand which was repeated by Elledge two months later. "Fifty-one [percent] is the right number because that gives us control," Elledge said. "We'll take 75 or 95 or whatever we work out. At the end of the day, 51 gives you control. And we want control." According to the Associated Press, DEI president Max Siegel said DEI has "worked hard to address everything" that Junior sought, without discussing specific percentages. http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/headlines/cup/05/09/dearnhardtjr.mtruex.leaving.DEI/index.html ____________________________________________________ This should be interesting indeed .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdvantageTimberLou Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 Wanna bet his sponsors and Martin's will be going to JR Motorsports. These two leaving is the end of DEI. To have a DEI and not Dale Jr? Sad deal either way. Wish Jr. the best wish Teresa gets a miracle as she will need it now!!!! Jr. is a marketing dream, sad the partnership at DEI could not work but with what they have he is not going to win races consistently or a championship, change was needed. He needs to sign with Hendrick or Childress and get some more experience before he takes on his own organization at the Cup level. Look whay Mikey thought he could do?!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VermontHunter Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 Wanna bet his sponsors and Martin's will be going to JR Motorsports. Now that you mention it Lou ... Here's a little info on that very subject .. Sources tell Yahoo! Sports that Earnhardt Jr.'s primary sponsor, Budweiser, will follow Junior to JR Motorsports. Budweiser's contract with DEI is due to expire at the end of 2008, but Yahoo! Sports sources believe there are provisions within the contract for an early exit if Earnhardt Jr. does not drive the No. 8 Chevrolet for DEI. http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slug=jb-juniorleaves050907&prov=yhoo&type=lgns Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowhntr Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 Interesting! I wonder what number he will be running? I would assume DEI will keep the 8 and not let him have it. There must be some hard feelings, because he had supposedly been waiting till the end of the month for this. Negotiations with Childress?? My money is on him running the number 3. It is sad that Teresa couldn't see what she was allowing to get away. DEI is done now, it is over for them. I'm sure that Sr. is crying a few tears right now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deerslayer79 Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 Not to make anyone mad,I Betcha Dale Sr. is rolling over in his grave right now..After he passed away,I could see that she was goin to be a so called reason that DEI would go down the crapper.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrud Posted May 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 To what Lou said, I think Junior will have much greater success with his own team than Waldrip is. Junior created Chance2. That team only ran two full Busch season and had two championships. JR Motorsports hasn't been very successful yet, but they don't have much for drivers. Hendrick motors will be the big help for that team. Budweiser will go with Junior. They aren't stupid enough to let him get away (unlike Teresa). Heck, Junior has probably brought in more money in ads in 2007 than race winnings. I'd be willing to bet that Eury Jr and Manion go to JR Motorsports also. The number situation will be interesting. If the #8 and #1 don't go to JR Motorsports, then both will have to time in for the first few races of 2008. If the #8 doesn't go with Junior, there might be negotiations with RCR to get the #3, but I wouldn't hold my breath. I'm sure there is much more to this story than we'll ever know. But from what I've read, its really sad to see T-Rex destroy DEI the way she has. As a museum, it will be fine. As a race team, they are done. I mean seriously, I can't think of any championship contending driver who would go to DEI. As a race team, DEI is a medicore team at best. Best of luck to Ralph Jr and Martin Jr. I think the team will be fine. It'll be interesting to see if the JRM cars will get much on track help (ie Dega/Daytona drafting) from the Hendrick cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrud Posted May 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 Junior to Hendrick Here is another report. Looks like JR Motorsports will not only be supplied with Hendrick motors, but also chassis built by Hendrick. I think that team will be in pretty good shape considering they'll be supplied with championship caliber equipment from the start. _______________ Copied from Yahoo! Sports Earnhardt Jr Leaving DEI By Jerry Bonkowski, Yahoo! Sports May 9, 2007 Dale Earnhardt Jr. officially will say goodbye to Dale Earnhardt Inc. on Thursday morning, Yahoo! Sports has learned. A highly placed source within DEI as well as additional sources familiar with the situation told Yahoo! Sports on Wednesday afternoon that both Junior and teammate Martin Truex Jr. will announce Thursday morning that they are leaving the DEI camp at the end of this season and will drive for Earnhardt's heretofore Busch Series operation, JR Motorsports. Sirius Radio also reported late Wednesday afternoon that the Earnhardt/Truex split with DEI was a done deal and that the new Cup team entry will field Chevrolet chassis built by Hendrick Motorsports and will use Hendrick engines as well. Sources tell Yahoo! Sports that Earnhardt Jr.'s primary sponsor, Budweiser, will follow Junior to JR Motorsports. Budweiser's contract with DEI is due to expire at the end of 2008, but Yahoo! Sports sources believe there are provisions within the contract for an early exit if Earnhardt Jr. does not drive the No. 8 Chevrolet for DEI. The press conference, which will be televised nationally, will take place at JR Motorsports headquarters in Mooresville, N.C., at 11 a.m. ET on Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT There has been no comment thus far from either DEI president Teresa Earnhardt (Dale Jr.'s stepmother) or company director of global operations Max Siegel. Truex's contract with DEI reportedly runs through 2008, but it is possible he has an out tied to primary sponsor Bass Pro Shops' future with the team. Sources have told Yahoo! Sports that the sponsor has considered moving to a different team after this season. Earnhardt and sister Kelley Earnhardt Elledge have been in often contentious negotiations with Teresa Earnhardt that have sparked considerable posturing from both sides in the media. Both siblings have said that if a deal with DEI was not in place by the end of May, they would consider a variety of options, including Junior leaving DEI. Just last week, DEI confirmed that it was talking with Robert Yates Racing about a possible merger and also a switch from Chevrolet power plants and chassis to Ford engines and chassis. Dale Earnhardt Jr. began his racing career with DEI in 1996, shortly after the organization was formed by his late father, seven-time Cup champion Dale Earnhardt, and Teresa Earnhardt. Earnhardt Jr. won back-to-back Busch Series championships in 1998 and 1999 before moving full-time to the then-Winston Cup Series in 2000. His first career Cup win was at Texas, with a memorable celebration between father and son in victory lane. Voted the most popular driver in NASCAR by fans the last four years, Earnhardt Jr. has 17 career Cup wins but has yet to win his first Cup championship. He has gone 36 consecutive races without a win, his last being at Richmond in May 2006. Yahoo! Sports' Bob Margolis contributed to this report. Veteran motorsports writer Jerry Bonkowski is Yahoo! Sports' NASCAR columnist. Send Jerry a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dg Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 I'd like to see Jr get a championship. It won't come with family. I just wish it had an RCR flavor when it happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdvantageTimberLou Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 I'd like to see Jr get a championship. It won't come with family. I just wish it had an RCR flavor when it happens. He'll get one but it won't be with Eury Jr. when it does. Too much conflict there between them. He needs a better crew chief, hate to say it but he needs a Chad Knauss to make him competitive each week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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