Junior to Leave Dale Earnhardt Inc.

NASCAR fans are a little shell-shocked today as Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced that he will leave Dale Earnhardt Inc., the racing team founded by his dad, at the end of the year. Plans for next year have not been made yet.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will leave the company founded by his late father at the end of the year in a shake-up certain to ignite a bidding war for NASCAR's most popular driver.

He told Dale Earnhardt Inc. on Thursday that he had decided to make the switch to another team when his contract expires.

"We worked really hard, but we were never close," Earnhardt said of negotiations with DEI. "I am a little sad, but I am trying to remind myself to be excited about what's ahead."

Earnhardt had asked for 51 percent ownership of the team now run by his stepmother, Teresa. Negotiations on a contract extension began before the season and have been tense all along. Earnhardt's sister, Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, had set a deadline to get the deal done by the end of the month.

Earnhardt has made it clear he wants to be in a Chevrolet, but that loyalty could limit his options next season.

It's also possible that Earnhardt will field his own Nextel Cup team from JR Motorsports, where he runs a Busch Series program and several late model cars out of a brand new shop in Mooresville. Earnhardt scheduled his news conference at that facility.

Although the contract has been in dispute all year, I don't think very many people really thought Junior would leave DEI. Budweiser must be feeling a little down today, too, given the investment they have in marketing him and their beer. And what about the legion of fans who show up at the races each week in their red Earnhardt Jr. gear? The licensing industry is already scrambling. This is a real earthquake in the sport.

Could there be a black #3 Childress Racing Chevy in his future? Richard Childress still has the rights to use the #3 in Nextel Cup racing (Earnhardt Sr.'s number) but never thought it would be used again. Having Junior drive a #3 would be about the only situation I can think of where Childress would want that number on the track once again.

Wouldn't that be something....

UPDATE 9:10 pm: Fox25 Boston reports that it's a done deal - Junior is going to Richard Childress Racing and will drive the #3 car (yes, I'm a prophet):

NASCAR's Dale Earnhardt Jr. will soon be racing under the same legendary #3 Chevy that his dad used to race in.

A source with direct knowledge of negotiations tells FOX25 that Dale Earnhardt Jr. has finalized a deal with Richard Childress Racing Thursday night and an official announcement will be coming soon.

What this means is that Dale Jr., NASCAR's most popular driver and one of the highest paid athletes in the world will now partner up with Richard Childress, the same man who Dale Earnhardt Sr. starting driving for in 1981.

At a press conference today to announce that he was leaving the company his late dad built, Dale Jr. said he would have mixed emotions about driving his dad's #3 Chevy, but again, FOX25 has learned that this is a done deal.

Wow. That will easily be the biggest story in NASCAR this year.

UPDATE 2 From Fox8:

FOX8 News has confirmed Junior is negotiating late Thursday night with Richard Childress to join Richard Childress Racing. An announcement could come as early as Friday. Childress has scheduled a news conference Friday at Darlington Raceway, the site of Saturday's Nextel Nextel Cup race. Sports Director Rich Brenner has also confirmed the talks between Junior and Childress include plans for Earnhardt driving the #33 Chevrolet for RCR. Budweiser, the primary sponsor for Junior's #8 car with DEI, will follow him to his new race team.

I guess the fans won't have to throw away all those red hats, t-shirts and jackets. They can just ink out part of the "8" and make it into a "3".

UPDATE 3: Richard Childress is denying that any deal has been made with Dale Jr. The two TV stations quoted above may have jumped the gun a bit, though I wouldn't be surprised if Junior ends up at RCR.