"The Rich Get Richer"

Dale Earnhardt, Jr is now ready to make a pile of cash for himself at Hendrick Motorsports. In case you missed it, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are solidly in the NASCAR Top 12...with Gordon piling up points so he could be with his wife when she gives birth any day now...and still not lose the point lead. Johnson, as you will recall is the defending NASCAR Nextel Cup Champion. (Enough for my MOTO tendency--MOTO=Master Of The Obvious).

Earnhardt Jr needs to bring Anheuser-Busch a championship. He has a personal services contract with the company. The #8 sponsorship is still with Frau Earnhardt at DEI. For how long, we don't know. If A-B jumps the sponsorship to Hendrick (where it used to be with Ken Schrader on the #25), they can leverage that into a big blitz.

Junior needs to win a couple times this year, preferably in the next few races, and get back into the top 12. That will bring momentum to the new Hendrick team, and enhance his reputation as a racer's racer.

This still has more implications...Kyle Busch is looking for a new 2008 team...he'll have no trouble finding it...and it may (as suggested by my advertisers and other commenters) end up being a swap, with Busch going to DEI. You can bet that spite would fuel that effort (it is a powerful emotion, if harnessed properly), if it should come about. Though our laptop woes preclude us from live blogging at the US Grand Prix...we'll still comment on what is happening there.

Random Thoughts/Indy and Nextel Cup

• Happy Harvick (Kevin, Daytona 500 winner from Richard Childress Racing/RCR) took the money at Lowes Motor Speedway and spanked "The Beast of the Southeast" at the Nextel All Star Challenge...if Hendrick Racing stumbles next weekend...Happy will get happier.
• Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and RCR are going into a joint engine program...wonder who will get the best motors...methinks Harvick and AT&T driver Jeff Burton (NASCAR lost this latest round in Federal Court to keep AT&T off the Burton car) and another driver for Childress will get the best (AA grade) and DEI gets darn good (AA-) engines.
• We wonder who's got the biggest bankroll to pay lawyers...AT&T or NASCAR...even Vince McMahon backed off when he had the dispute with the World Wildlife Federation.
• Almost 10 per cent of the Indianapolis 500 field (9.1% or 3 out of 33 starters) are women. Wonder where the NASCAR "Drive for Diversity" took a wrong turn--or are we impatient? Humpy Wheeler was ahead of his time when he arranged for Janet Guthrie to get a ride in the Coca-Cola 600 some 30 years ago.
• On Armed Forces Day, May 20: The men and women in the Armed Forces do something every day that 98.5% of the population can't or won't do--serve in the active defense of our way of life. They will, unfortunately, never get the respect they deserve in most outlets--except here.

Dale Jr.--My Takes

• By walking from DEI, he raises the value for every driver in NASCAR's Nextel Cup Series when contract time comes around. It is, perhaps, NASCAR racing's "Curt Flood" free agent moment (Flood was the baseball player whose struggle and court battle established free agency as a sports way of life, for better or worse)
• He and sister Kelley are stand-up people for getting this out and dealt with...a little of the military academy training shone through.
• This announcement and its timing was a master PR stroke which even bumps Danica Patrick off the racing portion of the sports pages...Ramsey Poston (pr flack for NASCAR) had to like all the ink.
• One wonders just how many Budweiser cans with Jr's likeness are planned before he changes numbers...I can see it now...the '8' on a 24 oz can and call it Dale Jr's "master cylinder".
• One also wonders which of the Chevy contenders/pretenders will make a credible offer for Dale Jr's services.
• Dale Earnhardt, Inc. won a Pyhrric victory in these negotiations--Stepmother Teresa showed the NASCAR universe who was boss. But would you rather be the boss of a company worth hundreds of millions of dollars, or one worth tens of millions? The value of DEI is, for all practical purposes, reduced dramatically once Dale Jr drives his last race for the company in November. Dale Jr merchandise money goes to the new team, and his replacement won't sell as many collectibles. The question is raised again: On January 1, 2008, will Dale Earnhardt, Inc. be worth more in liquidation than it would be as a going business concern?