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.

• Complete story, click here
• Running commentary
• Post your thoughts
• DEI, Budweiser reactions
• Junior blazing own trail
• Effect on licensing industry

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."

Siegel said that while it is a blow to lose a driver of the magnitude of Earnhardt Jr., he is confident that DEI can not only survive but thrive. He said that while Earnhardt Jr. will finish out this season in his familiar red No. 8 car for DEI, he likes the promise shown by its other two drivers as well -- Martin Truex Jr. and Paul Menard.

"Our No. 1 priority was keeping Dale Jr. and obviously we are disappointed," Siegel said. "He is part of the family; he will always be a part of the family. We totally respect his decision. I think there was always a real possibility that he could go somewhere and there were other options. He said it was a unique situation, which it was. We laid everything on the table. We tried to address all the issues. We both felt it important to our commercial partners and our respective companies to start to move forward in a positive direction."

Among the options in that direction: merging DEI with Robert Yates Racing. The two sides already have held preliminary discussions about the possibility.

When asked about a possible DEI-Yates merger again Thursday, Siegel replied: "We're exploring all the opportunities to enhance the company, grow to four cars and be strong in competition and diversify the company as well."

Siegel said that a contingency plan of sorts already was in place, in case what became official Thursday was to actually happen. So he insisted that a plan is set to address many of the concerns that Earnhardt Jr. had with DEI -- mainly the fact that their race teams have not been competitive enough in the last two years.

"We've taken a comprehensive review of the entire company," Siegel said. "We've laid out a number of different routes we could go, one which we hoped would include Dale Jr. In the event he wasn't there, we have an aggressive expansion plan in place. We're paying attention to competition. We do a have long-term vision and a plan to continue strong with DEI."

While all that sounds good on the surface, Waltrip insisted that it won't be easy for DEI to thrive in the immediate aftermath of losing Junior. But he also said that he thinks the company ultimately will survive.

"They've got their work cut out for them. I think if you talk to Dale Jr. and you talk to some of those folks over there -- they got behind," Waltrip said. "You can ask [team owner] Ray Evernham. You get behind a little bit and you see what happens. You get behind a lot and then you're really going to have your work cut out for you."

Waltrip said that the facility out of which DEI operates -- once dubbed "The Garage Mahal" and considered the finest in NASCAR -- may be in need of an overhaul for starters. Or at least some serious updating.

"They got to do a lot of work. I haven't been in there in quite some time, but just listening to Dale Jr. and some others, there is some equipment that they don't have. The facility is maybe not as big and as adequate as it even needs to be today," Waltrip said.

"Don't forget, that place is 10 years old. Dale built that in '97 and it opened up in 1998. A lot can change in racing in 10 years."

No kidding. Tell Teresa Earnhardt something she doesn't already know, as well as Earnhardt Jr. and all of his and his father's fans.

Waltrip also said he doesn't blame Junior for leaving DEI, and added that he doesn't believe, under the circumstances, that Junior's father would, either.

"I think Dale was a racer, just like Junior is," Waltrip said. "I think Dale would have said, `Look, son, if we're not giving you what you need, go find a job somewhere else.' I don't think there's any question about it."