by richard teague tinynascars@yahoo.com
I write my column on Tuesday evening, so I won’t be able to comment, rant, rave or give y’all my views on Dale Earnhardt Junior’s announcement about where he will be in 2008. So tonight, I will just have to give it my best shot at speculating what he will tell the world Wednesday morning. Now assuming I have done my homework on the many options this young man can take towards fulfilling his destiny as NASCAR champion, let me take a realistic look at what I believe the future holds for him. I stated a few weeks back that I wished I could find my crystal ball so I could be the first to say what team he’d be driving for next year, but that baby must have dug a deep hole to hide in, so here goes.
Jr. has said from the beginning that he wants and needs a team that has the potential to help him win races and a championship. For some unknown reason, he doesn’t think that DEI can do that unless he has 51% of its ownership. He hasn’t really tried to run down DEI or their ability to produce quality equipment and personnel for his goals, so I wonder why he thought that without the 51%, he had no future there. If he were to bad mouth DEI, he’d be going against too many of the good friends he’s made over the years, not to mention family he has grown up with. I believe he knows that path is not the way, because you never know what or whom you may need sometime down the proverbial road.
With all the changes over the past years, with team members and crew chiefs (the #8 swapped with Michael Waltrip’s crew and then back again) he has not acted childish like some drivers have. He has done his job, or mission you might say, and held up his part to accomplish it. Just think, if he steps up tomorrow morning (two days ago by the time y’all read this) and instead of the much-hyped wait-to-see-where-he-will-be-driving, he comes out with this:
“I have reconciled with Teresa and she has accepted Kelly and my demands and will relinquish the percentage that we needed to stay with Dale Earnhardt Inc. She has also agreed that with this majority control of DEI I will be able to take the reigns so that I can lead this fine organization to a Nextel (formerly Winston soon to be Sprint) Cup Championship.” Kelly could then also chime in with, “Yes we have worked very hard to keep DEI a family business and feel that it is in the best interest of the Earnhardt Family that Jr. stays where he belongs and builds on what our father Dale Earnhardt started along with our stepmother Teresa. I want to apologize to so many people that I have misled into the hopes of getting my brother to join their teams and the many fans that have, for months now, suffered the aggravation of being uncertain about Dale Jr.’s future.”
Yeah, in a pig’s eye. That won’t be the announcement that will unfold tomorrow at JR Motorsports, but one can always wish and hope. There are so many different scenarios that come from all these weeks of waiting that it would take days to list them all, but let me just touch on a few. I’ll start with the losers, you might call them (but I could be wrong and they maybe the winner of this, the biggest NASCAR lottery of all time). The team that has bought the lucky number, or rather big number, that will win the grand prize of Dale Earnhardt Jr., surely can’t be these next two. But then, like they say, “if you don’t buy a ticket, well, ya can’t win.” Bubbas and Bubbets, there is one team that has bought a bunch of tickets, but I can’t help but feel they didn’t win a thing. Well, maybe a seven-post shaker, that is.
Ginn Racing has been the underdog from the beginning, or at least that is the way it appears to everyone in NASCAR, but if you have been reading my stuff, I’ve been Bobby’s biggest supporter right from the start. I think that Jr. would have a top-notch shot at winning with Ginn because the owner wants to win as much as he does and more. And he has shown his willingness to do so by his actions. Sure, it may take a year or two, but to go to a team that would put you in the number one spot? There ain’t another team out there that can do that better. Ginn Racing is a first-rate, second-rate team that is on their way toward big things and Earnhardt should try to see that and go to the top with them. He wants control of things? Well, Bobby would give him a key to everything and all that would be left is the winning.
Now for a frontrunner that has kind of shot itself in the foot: Gibbs Racing. Gibbs don’t want no beer. Does Budweiser make wine? Would Joe agree to a Mad Dog 20/20 car on the track, or is that still too much to ask? For a short time it was heralded that Denny and Tony would make great teammates, but the tablets were brought down and a new line was added: “Thou shalt not have an alcoholic beverage name on a car in your stable.” You know, I really do understand that, and it takes a strong person to abide by that, but aren’t rules made to be broken? Well, Ten aren’t, but heck, Joe, that is number eleven. I couldn’t see Jr. sharing secrets with Tony Stewart, could you? Would he be getting the good stuff over there at JGR?
Well that leaves two other teams. Richard Childress Racing is the top choice with fans, other drivers, many owners, and, of course, the bookies. I called Vegas tonight to see what the line was on what Dale was going to say Wednesday and it was something like this: Ginn Racing was 40 to 1, Gibbs Racing, I think, was 75 to 1, and RCR was even money. The other team that has been rumored to be the one was still at 100 ta 1, so y’all know where I put my money. Why, RCR was even dough, I don’t know, ‘cuase they can’t be even after Jeff Burton spilled it about a fourth team next year and smiled while he was drug back to the hauler kicking and laughing. I know everybody has to listen to what ESPN and NASCAR.com has been saying about Junior’s getting a rooster on his unit and all, but how can that be? Didn’t HMS say the other day that “there ain’t no room at the inn?” What’s this stuff about Kyle driving a #8 Bud car for DEI? Budweiser has been on the number 25 before. How about Jamie, ain’t he signed until 2009? Can Jr. team with Gordon and Johnson? Why sure he could, but will he be getting the stuff he needs to win races and a championship, or will the two resident champs be getting’ the benefit of all the good stuff? People, I just don’t know, but by noon tomorrow the world will know. Like a declaration of war on some small unknown country by the United States, it will be televised all over the world. I bet ya that NAPA and UPS will have several commercials on that baby.
Speaking of those guys, how ‘bout Mikey letting Terry drive the 55 ride on the road races coming up? I read NAPA’s statement about how much they appreciate MWR, and Michael Waltrip stepping back, or rather, down so that Terry Labonte could get the NAPA name back on the track. I also heard Dale Jarrett might be released from MWR, but where does he go from there? He could probably pull an Earnhardt Jr. and drive a UPS car for anybody, but that’s all small taters compared to “The Announcement.” Well, later this week we will all know and I’ll be right here speaking my mind about what Junior had to say. If you have something to say to me, you can get ‘r done at tinynascars@yahoo.com. Boy, I’ll tell y’all right now, these next few words have great meaning to me: If it ain’t NASCAR, It ain’t S**T !!!!
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