When it comes to Junior no scenario is out of bounds

Here's how it's going to happen. Cerberus, the capital management company that now owns most of Chrysler, slashes the manufacturer's racing budget and sends Dodge teams looking elsewhere for support. After high-level talks with Anheuser-Busch, Ray Evernham writes big checks to Teresa and Dale Earnhardt Jr., and unveils a fleet of Chevrolets sponsored by Budweiser, Bud Light and Bud Select bearing the numbers 8, 9 and 10.

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Well, maybe not. But anything seems plausible these days, as the most popular driver in NASCAR looks for a new home. Earnhardt's announcement last week that he will leave Dale Earnhardt Inc. at the end of this season was the first domino to fall in what will surely be a series of them, the sound echoing to all corners of the Nextel Cup garage. It's a charged atmosphere -- one manufacturer struggling, another recently sold, teams seeking to form alliances, drivers in trouble or looking to move. And in the middle of it all is Earnhardt, whom every car owner is interested in, whether they'll admit it or not.

Anything can happen. When a 17-time race winner with the marketing potential and fan base of Earnhardt announces himself a free agent, nothing is sacred. Some teams have conflicts with his sponsor or his choice of car manufacturer. One, Joe Gibbs Racing, has stated a moral objection to the Budweiser logos that will surely follow Junior wherever he goes. Right now everyone is posturing, trying to say the right things in public, trying to smooth things over in their own backyards before calling Earnhardt's people with the pitch.

And the pitches will come, as hard and fast as those thrown by John Smoltz. Richard Childress Racing, the team that for 17 years fielded cars for Earnhardt's late father, seems the strongest early candidate. But so did John McCain once, too. Right now, nothing is out of bounds or out of the realm of possibility. Theories over where Earnhardt will end up waft over Nextel Cup tracks like the campfire smoke at Talladega.

Take, for example, a popular one floating around these days. Earnhardt wants to race for a title contender, and he wants to stay in Chevrolets. That would appear to limit him to three choices -- Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing and RCR. Hendrick is the big dog in the sport right now, its current streak of seven wins in eight races placing it clearly above the rest of the field. If he wants to race for a team that's won six championships and rarely has a down year, that's the place to go.

But Hendrick also has four cars, the maximum allowed under an impending NASCAR limit, and no room to add a fifth for Earnhardt. Ah, but if they want him bad enough, they'll make room. So Hendrick shifts the frustrated and snake bitten Casey Mears off to one of its satellite operations such as Haas CNC Racing, which relies on Hendrick for engines and technical support. Suddenly there's an opening, and the most powerful organization in NASCAR only becomes more powerful.

The scenario is far from airtight. Mears may be struggling, but he's only in his first year with Hendrick, and he's very close to teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson -- not to mention owner Rick Hendrick himself. There are plenty of personal ties there no one wants to strain. An outfit like Haas CNC Racing may not exactly be keen on having a third car foisted upon it, even it means a sweetheart deal on engines. Pure speculation? Sure. But unthinkable? Not at all.

Junior leaving DEI

Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced he will leave Dale Earnhardt Inc. at the end of this season.

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Neither is this one: Earnhardt, still longing for the ownership slice denied him by DEI, calls up old pal and former teammate Michael Waltrip, who runs a struggling Toyota organization and has failed to qualify for 10 consecutive events. Earnhardt buys interest in the team, switches manufacturer to Chevrolet, and obtains the rights to the No. 33 from RCR. Suddenly Michael Waltrip Racing has a financially sound partner, the sport's most reliable motors under the hood, and a four-car operation with the numbers 00, 33, 44 and 55.

This one is leakier than an oil pan after a crash at Bristol. There are too many unknowns -- will Waltrip or Dale Jarrett, struggling almost as mightily as his car owner, even drive next season? Will sponsors like UPS and NAPA stay on board? Will Michael Waltrip Racing even exist as we know it today? Besides, if Earnhardt really wanted to sink his own cash into an organization with cars outside the top 35 in owner points, he'd be better off just taking JR Motorsports to the Nextel Cup level.

But who knows? Roger Penske owns a Dodge team and has rival brewery Miller as a longtime car sponsor, but even he'd like to sit down and talk with Little E. So would Ginn Racing, a little player trying to position itself on a big stage. It's as if Junior has become a hot high school quarterback prospect, and every college from Florida to Coastal Carolina thinks it has a shot. Maybe Earnhardt should take official visits and announce his intention in a gymnasium, flanked by cheerleaders and a pep band, and wearing a baseball cap indicating his team of choice.

Then again, maybe something totally unexpected will happen. Maybe Gordon will win his fifth Nextel Cup championship, become completely enamored with fatherhood, announce his retirement and move to Fiji. And maybe Hendrick will introduce the new driver of the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, a lanky fellow with a twangy North Carolina accent, scruffy red beard and familiar last name.

Hey, don't forget that it was the late, great Dale Earnhardt who gave Hendrick his first NASCAR victory, in a Busch car at Charlotte in 1983. So maybe Earnhardt Jr. will follow in his father's footsteps after all. Just not in the way most people envisioned.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.