MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- The building remains as unmistakable as the man himself. The dramatic glass front, such a stark departure from the pastureland that surrounds it. The hallways and offices, outfitted with gold carpet and black-painted walls. The cabinets full of trophies and memorabilia. The grand showroom, once envisioned as the shop floor, now home to vehicles from the organization's glory days, some of them Daytona 500 winners with pieces of Victory Lane confetti still stuck to the hood.

No question about it, this is still the "Garage Mahal" -- the opulent home of Dale Earnhardt Inc., a building once so grand, so ahead of its time, that it sparked a facilities war that escalated to the point of an arms race. This was once the hub of a team that for a time stood among the elite in NASCAR's premier series, that won 24 races, employed more than 300 people, and fielded four Sprint Cup cars as recently as 2008. And in some ways, little has changed; there's still a No. 3 car that greets visitors as they walk through the front doors, staff members still wear black shirts bearing that familiar DEI logo, there are still employees roaming the hallways who were hired by the man himself.

But much has changed at DEI, which suffered perhaps more than any other major NASCAR team under the economic recession that has reshaped the sport over the last two years. Primary sponsors like Budweiser, NAPA, and the U.S. Army departed for other teams. Flagship driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., embroiled in a dispute with his stepmother Teresa, left for Hendrick Motorsports. In late 2008, DEI merged its Sprint Cup operations with Chip Ganassi's organization, creating the Earnhardt-Ganassi outfit that currently fields the cars of Jamie McMurray and Juan Montoya. And then came the move to reduce payroll, a painful process that left roughly 200 people without a job. (Continued)