Junior no fan of Darlington, COT ... COT at Darlington

The NASCAR world is all abuzz about Dale Earnhardt Jr. after he announced on Thursday he was leaving his father's company at the end of the year. The first of what will be the final 26 races in the No. 8 DEI Chevrolet begins Saturday night at Darlington Raceway, a track for which he has voiced his distaste in the past.

"This is about as bad of a week as I could imagine: two days testing at Charlotte, then going to Darlington for a weekend and then two more days testing at Dover," Earnhardt said of his itinerary that includes the Dodge Avenger 500 (7 p.m. ET, FOX) at the Lady in Black.

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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"Darlington is just tough, period. It's a tough track because of the shape and the ancient pavement, but it's really tough on the entire team mentally and physically. It's a track that is so punishing to all of us and we're always relieved when we put the car back on the trailer in one piece."

Despite his disdain for the track, Earnhardt has only one DNF in 12 starts at Darlington -- a crash in his Cup debut there in 2000 -- and has not finished off the lead lap since the Labor Day race in 2003. Earnhardt has two consecutive top-10s at Darlington, and in the past four races his worst finish is 11th.

Junior didn't please track officials one year when he criticized the pavement at Darlington, and he won't make anyone in NASCAR's offices happy with his remarks on the Car of Tomorrow that will be run Saturday night.

"In this day and age with all of the knowledge and technology we have, it's ridiculous that these cars are so bad," Junior said. "I mean, look at all the camber we have to run in the front end to make them turn - it's just ridiculous and there's no reason why they should be that way. It's still a new car so maybe they'll listen and make some changes to make it better.

"I'm not looking forward to driving the Car of Tomorrow at Darlington."

After posting top-10s in his first two COT races that included a race-high 137 laps led at Martinsville, Earnhardt has finishes of 19th and 13th, respectively, in the past two COT events.

"People say the cars are ugly -- well, I don't care what they look like but they don't drive as good as they should," Earnhardt said. "That's my opinion, which may not mean much, but I hope NASCAR listens to the drivers and teams when we say these cars don't drive worth a damn."

Such is the week for Dale Earnhardt Jr.: two days of tests at Lowe's, a life-changing decision, a COT race at Darlington and more testing at Dover.

"Nobody tests at Dover -- everyone tries to avoid that as much as they can," he said. "But, after that maybe we'll have some clean sailing and give everyone a day off or something."

After his announcement Thursday, that's highly unlikely.