Drivers offer thoughts on Junior's DEI departure

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. is always a presence at Darlington Raceway, even when he's not at the track. His image, clad in Budweiser red, smiles down from billboards along the highway running by NASCAR's oldest major speedway.

But for how much longer? The sport's most popular driver announced Thursday that he would leave Dale Earnhardt Inc., the team his father created and the only Nextel Cup home he's ever known, when his contract expires after this season. Now the biggest free agent in NASCAR history is on the market, with everyone wondering where he's going to wind up in 2008.

Earnhardt Jr. leaving DEI at end of season

In a news conference at his JR Motorsports race shop on Thursday, Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced he will leave DEI at the end of this season.

• Complete story, click here
• Post your thoughts
• DEI, Budweiser reactions
• Junior blazing own trail
• Effect on licensing industry
• DEI's focus now shifts to future

"We'd like to see him over here, obviously," Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin said after Busch practice Thursday at the 1.366-mile track, which hosts the Dodge Avenger 500 on Saturday night. "He'd bring a lot to Gibbs. As a team, myself and Tony [Stewart] have a pretty good relationship with him. So it would be a great fit."

With only three Nextel Cup entries, the Gibbs organization has room for Earnhardt to fit under the four-car limit established by NASCAR. So does Richard Childress Racing, the team Earnhardt's late father made famous driving a black No. 3 car many fans would love to see Junior in next year.

"When a driver says he's going to leave, it's only natural to start wondering where he's going to go. I don't think there's anything unusual about that," RCR driver Jeff Burton said. "But certainly Junior's comments about one day wanting to drive for Richard certainly add fuel to that fire. I honestly have no idea what will happen there, I honestly don't. If we're going to do a fourth team, if that's what Richard decides he wants to do, then Junior would be one of the drivers we'd like to talk to, without a doubt. But I have no way of knowing what would happen right now."

Earnhardt said he'd prefer to continue to drive Chevrolets, leaving RCR, Gibbs and Hendrick Motorsports as the most obvious top contenders. Childress, who is scheduled to speak to the media Friday morning, wasn't available for comment Thursday. Neither was Joe Gibbs Racing president J.D. Gibbs. A spokesman for Rick Hendrick, whose team has won seven of 10 races this year, offered no comment.

But surely, behind the scenes, the telephone lines were buzzing. A 17-time race winner who has finished fifth or better in final championship points three times in his seven-year career, Earnhardt will bring a massive fan base and a big-money sponsor with him wherever he goes. (Continued)