Junior: It's time for me to contend for championships (cont'd)

Earnhardt said that his decision was made independent of all others who work with him at DEI, squelching rumors that it already is a done deal that he will bring along crew chief Tony Eury Jr. wherever he ends up. He also said that there was no truth to reports that driver Martin Truex Jr. would follow him out the door at DEI.

"Martin is in the same boat as you guys [in the media] are. He's probably watching this as we speak," Earnhardt joked.

At the end of the day, it ended up being about control over how to get more competitive in his racecar. Earnhardt didn't think it was going to happen the way he wanted at DEI, so he has decided to leave.

Now the next round of questions can begin, as in who is going to offer him how many millions? And where will he ultimately end up?

"At 32 years of age, the same age as my father was when he made his final and most important career decision, it is the time for me to compete on a consistent basis and contend for championships," Earnhardt said. "What team I'll drive for next season, I don't know. We'll see who wants to hire me, who is interested in having me drive their racecars, and we'll decide from here. That is an announcement, obviously, for a later date."

Retired driver Darrell Waltrip, now a television analyst on NASCAR races, was in attendance at Thursday's news conference and said that a new version of an older game show is about to heat up in the sport.

"I guess in any other sport, I guess they'd call him a free agent now," Waltrip said. "I guess he kind of wanted to let everybody know that. Now it's going to be like Let's Make a Deal. Or Let's Make the Best Deal. That's what it sounds like."

Except now the organization bearing his father's name is out of the picture, having had its exclusive chance to close the deal of Dale Jr.'s lifetime and failed.