Earnhardt Jr. unveils new 66,000 square-foot facility

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- A variety of new news came from Tuesday's open house at JR Motorsports -- including a partnership between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and motocross maven Jeremy McGrath -- but as for Junior's pending contract with DEI, there is nothing new to report.

"Still working ... Kelley is still recovering. I don't want to place any more stress on her than she needs to have," Earnhardt said in reference of Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, his sister and de facto business manager. "... The decisions we make over the next six months are going to impact us over the next several years and I need for her mind to be clear as well as mine."

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Earnhardt wants control of licensing and at least 51 percent ownership of Dale Earnhardt Inc., the company his late father started with his stepmother, Teresa Earnhardt.

Elledge, who also serves as president of JR Motorsports, Earnhardt's Busch Series operation, is recovering from recent pancreas surgery.

"We need to have a decision no later than June," Elledge said. "The biggest reason we want ownership in the Cup program is so that we can direct it to where we feel like it needs to go.

"The idea is that the company would be left to the children, and we want to make sure that there is a formidable business left there and we can take on for our generation and then our children and then on and on.

"The business is not where it could be over the last several years. It's going to take something to get that back and we're in a position of time. We want Dale to drive 10 or 12 more years. We've got to get on the racetrack and win and get competitive and win championships. We have to have a situation that provides that for him."

Both Junior and Elledge said negotiations are going well and that talks are "positive."

For now the focus is on Earnhardt's new 66,000 square-foot shop, decorated by former NASCAR driver Shawna Robinson and open to the public.

Fans can watch shop happenings through a large glass window, shop for exclusive items at Jr. Nation and get their photo taken with the driver's wax figure, an exact replica of Madame Tussauds.

Other figures, in By the Numbers form, are as follows:

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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