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 is expected to be televised nationally,
will take place at JR Motorsports headquarters in Mooresville, N.C.,
at 11 a.m. ET on Thursday.


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.

On May 10, 3:05 am, "Manco" <manco_doll... (AT) net2blah (DOT) com> wrote:
I think it has less to do with gold and more
to do with control. She would never have to
worry about money ever again if she let Jr
and his sister take control of DEI, but I
think their is some cat-fighting going on
between Terasa and Jr's sister. In her mind,
"it will be over her dead body before she gives
her ompany away to Sr's kids."

She'll find some other men to run DEI; Menard,
Yates, Haliburton, it doesn't matter.

I wish Jr a lot of success, nascar needs him.
He needs to find someone to run the Co. while
he concentrates on driving.

"Rick" <pearl (AT) cray (DOT) com> wrote

Jr. wanted control over the company. He wanted to be boss.
Anywhere else he goes, he's going to demand he gets that kind of control.

On May 10, 11:18 am, "AT-#6" <going-after-c... (AT) next (DOT) net> wrote:
I don't think so - he wanted control of DEI because he is an
Earnhardt, and it was his dad's company. He doesn't have the same
relationship with any other team. I think he'll be perfectly happy to
be a part of Gibbs or Childress, as a driver, bringing along a super
sponsor like Budweiser.

N.

On May 10, 1:42 pm, Nancy2 <nancy-doo... (AT) uiowa (DOT) edu> wrote:
Dales Widow is more of an Earnhardt then Dale Jr. is.

"Dave" <newenglandarchives (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

Just because he left his former stepmother's company?

Junior is being his own man and is going his own way. That's exactly what
his father did.

Re Dave's remarks - It will be interesting to watch and see how many
of Junior's "fans" now show their true colors and revert to being
Senior's fans. Like Dave - who thinks Junior is being disloyal.

As it turns out, maybe the only thing Junior got from DEI is a fan
base. And maybe he really is being loyal to what his father
wanted. It's not as if he has to be loyal to Teresa.

I think Junior has acted with integrity and commitment - maybe more so
than Teresa. If people are truly Junior fans, then they won't care
where he races, as long as he's in the hunt. And certainly, a driver
can win races and championships without a big fan base.

N.

"Nancy2" <nancy-dooley (AT) uiowa (DOT) edu> wrote

But the big fan base sure helps pay the bills. The Red Army will now have to
buy new gear with Junior's new number on it.

On Thu, 10 May 2007 16:27:54 -0400, "armpit" <armarmpitpit (AT) yahoo (DOT) com>
wrote:

I'd buy some of his new stuff, so long as there wasn't a Blue Oval
anywhere on or near it...I want for him what he wants for himself, and
if he's convinced that DEI can't give him that shot, his leaving there
was OK by me. I just can't support Ford tho, regardless of who races
for them.

On Thu, 10 May 2007 16:18:15 GMT, "AT-#6" <going-after-cale (AT) next (DOT) net>
wrote:

He wanted control of DEI so he could get the competition side of it
back up to par. If he goes to RCR or JGR (or the like), the
competition side is already doing just fine and I imagine he would
have little to complain about at that point, much less would he demand
control. Input? Sure, all drivers have input, but he wouldn't need
control of a company that was already structured and operating
properly, something that DEI hasn't been since at least 2004, if not
before.

And seeing as how he's been driving 20th place cars to basically top
10-15 finishes the past several years, I can't forsee a single team in
the paddock telling him no if they had room under the 4 car cap for
him and he wanted to race there. And with Bud likely following him
wherever he goes? That's a LOT of sponsor dollars that ANY TEAM in the
sport would love to be able to spend on their equipment needs. Again,
this is something DEI hasn't been doing. They've been spending it on
Legacy stuff and marketing gurus...RIP Dale Senior, loved to watch you
in your day, but today is today, it's not yesterday anymore.