With Junior gone, DEI's focus now shifts to future

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- When Dale Earnhardt Jr. wrapped up the news conference announcing his split from the company bearing his father's name Thursday and exited stage right, an unlikely companion smiled and patted him on the back.

Junior kept right on going, leaving Max Siegel well behind to catch up.

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.

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It seemed fitting and symbolic. As Earnhardt Jr. moves on to a racing future without Dale Earnhardt Inc., Siegel, as president of global operations for DEI, faces a legacy that will include failing to close likely the biggest domestic deal of the decade, or more, with racing's favorite son.

Retired driver Darrell Waltrip, now a television analyst, said that Junior's departure from DEI does not bode well for the company founded by the late Dale Earnhardt and his wife, Teresa, who is Junior's stepmother. The elder Earnhardt passed away during a wreck in the 2001 Daytona 500.

"They're going to have to almost rebuild. It's almost as if they're starting from scratch -- and in a lot of ways," Waltrip said.

Teresa Earnhardt is CEO of DEI and hired Siegel to handle, among many other things, the lead in the contract negotiations with her stepson. She contended that the demise of DEI, predicted by so many in this immediate aftermath of Junior's departure, is definitely premature.

"While we are very disappointed that Dale Jr. has chosen to leave the family business, we remain excited about our company's future," Teresa Earnhardt said in a statement. "Our aggressive expansion and diversification plans have not changed.

"This company has continued to thrive since Dale left us in 2001, and it will thrive following [Thursday's] announcement. Dale and I built this company to be a championship contender, and those principles still apply. Dale Earnhardt Inc. will win, and we have other extremely talented drivers and hundreds of employees that are dedicated to the programs we founded. This company has a great legacy and a bright future, built on loyalty, integrity and commitment."

Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, the sister of Dale Jr. and president of his JR Motorsports who handled the lead in his end of the failed negotiations with DEI, said that she and her brother wish nothing but the best for DEI.

"That hasn't changed for us. We're still Earnhardts," she said. "Dale and I both want to be very supportive of Dale Earnhardt Inc. and their efforts, because it is our family name as well. We will do everything we can to support the rebuilding of that team and the efforts that their putting forth to make that team successful. From a timing standpoint, it's just the time for us to prepare for 2008. And this decision had to be made because of that, for both sides, because DEI has to move forward with what their plans are for 2008, and so do we." (Continued)