Weekend That Was: Junior (cont'd)

"There is time to start our own Cup effort if that's what we choose to do. Just like with this decision [to announce he's leaving DEI], there's a time when that wouldn't be feasible," Earnhardt Elledge said. "We have our work cut out for us to engage with other teams and listen to what the options are. Our first choice would be to drive for another top competitive team, and our last choice would be to form our own Cup team."

To 3 or not to 3

Now that Dale Earnhardt Jr. has decided to leave his late father's race team at season's end, David Caraviello says he should do himself a favor and stay out of the car his dad made legendary.

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History would not be on their side if they had to resort to their last option. The only current driver-owners in the business on the Cup level are Robby Gordon, currently 30th in owner points and seemingly fighting impossible sponsorship battles every week; and Michael Waltrip, who hasn't made a race since the season-opening Daytona 500 and is languishing in 49th place in owner points (plus his No. 55 car officially has Waltrip's wife, Buffy, listed as the owner).

Alan Kulwicki was arguably the most successful owner-driver in recent history, winning the 1992 championship by 10 points over Bill Elliott. But even Kulwicki struggled to stay competitive much of the time -- registering only five victories in 188 career starts in seven-plus seasons before dying in a plane crash.

Junior wants so much more. To get it, he needs to focus on driving and not all the headaches that come with owning a team. And he knows that some established team will be willing to pay him millions to stay out of the ownership business.

"I love driving cars," he said. "The business itself gets pretty hard sometimes outside the car. But I know when I get behind the wheel, that's why I'm there in the first place. I can't wait to race and I can't wait to get to the track."

But he can wait to be a car owner at the Cup level. There is plenty of time for that down the road if he ultimately so chooses, presumably after he wins more races and contends for championships while getting paid handsomely to drive for someone else.

More numbers

Others who were driver-owners with varying degrees of success in NASCAR Cup history include Bobby Allision, Ricky Rudd, Darrell Waltrip, brothers Geoffrey and Brett Bodine, Richard Childress, Buddy Baker, Joe Nemecheck, Morgan Sheperd and Elliott.

Allison won six races in cars he owned during two decades, beginning in 1965 -- finishing second in points in 1970 and fourth in 1971 and 1974, respectively.

Rudd's best seasons as a driver-owner came during a three-year stretch between 1994 and 1996, when he finished fifth, ninth and sixth in the standings. But he slumped to 22nd in 1998 and was forced to shut down his operation after he failed to win a race in 1999.

Waltrip totaled 53 top-10 finishes and five wins in his first four seasons as a driver-owner after leaving Hendrick Motorsports, and finished in the top 10 in driver points in three of those seasons. But he failed to win another race after 1992 and registered only 14 more top-10s before going to drive for DEI six races into the 1999 season.

Geoffrey Bodine won four races as a driver-owner, including three in 1994, but never finished in the top 15 in points during the course of five seasons and 99 starts. And his brother, Brett, failed to win a single race in 228 starts while pulling double-duty.

None of Elliott's 44 career victories came when he was driving for himself. In 186 starts as a driver-owner, the best he could do was one second-place finish at Michigan in 1997.

Others who were winless as driver-owners included Childress (157 starts), Baker (82 starts), Nemecheck (61 starts) and Shepherd (42 starts). (Continued)