This statement seems to point him away from Ginn racing.

Jst think a red bud number 3 car….. it wont be so bad having that legandary 3 in a different color red is better anyway
[/quote=Jon]
Didn’t Earnhardt Sr. drive a Red-colored #3, Coca-Cola sponsored car in japan near the end of his career?

Take Coca-Cola off the hood & 1/4-panels, slap-on the Budweiser-script, and there you have it.

Rick Hendrick NEVER said he didn’t want Dale Earnhardt Jr. in one of his cars:
he simply said that ‘currently’ there are no openings in his 4 cars.

Rumors circulating Charlotte last weekend had Ryan Newman leaving the 12, and Meat-Head replacing him, joining Dumbo at Penske, which WOULD open-up the 5 car, despite reports that Hendrick is trying to extend his current contract with HMS:
if Hendrick WANTS Meat-Head to resign, and HMS has the best cars on the track, it could-be that Meat-Head isn’t entirely thrilled playing 3rd-string to Yeffey & Yimmie, as Marty Smith hinted in a column last week.

Rick Hendrick OBVIOUSLY thinks highly-enough of Junior to let him drive his cars:
witness who drove the 5-car after Meat-Head threw a hissy-fit @ Texas, destroying the #8 Chevrolet…..

Imagine the stink the Yeffey & Yimmie fan-boys would’ve had if JUNIOR would’ve wrecked-out an HMS-car, left the track, and the HMS-driver had to substitute for Junior.

Believe-me, Junior-fans don’t want to see-him as a teammate to Yeffey & Yimmie any-more than you do:
here’s a quarter, but a clue.

Joe Gibbs would be his best fit with Dale Jr ,Tony , Hamlin and Yeley { POWERHOUSE }
Especially if he takes bud with him. Bud Depot Fed Ex Interstate

Sat, May 19, 2007

DEI, RCR join forces
By AP

CONCORD, N.C. — Dale Earnhardt Inc. has merged its engine program with Richard Childress Racing, an alliance that likely will help DEI return to prominence.

DEI has been in a slow decline since Dale Earnhardt’s 2001 death, and star driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. is leaving at the end of the season because he doesn’t think he can win championships at DEI.

His stepmother, Teresa Earnhardt, hopes that merging engine programs with RCR will strengthen the organization.

“This backs up what Teresa said last week - her commitment is solid, and her No. 1 priority is to win championships,” John Story, general manager of DEI, said yesterday. “This is the first of a few big things we are going to do to continue moving toward that goal of winning championships.”

RCR ~ offers friendly-confines (he’s known Childress his entire life), a chance to work with those who helped his father, and the chance to run his father’s colors & number, and help re-build that organization into it’s previous glory.

JGR ~ has won 3 Championships in 7 seasons with 2 very-different drivers, has a 3rd budding-star in Hamlin, would benifit from Joe Gibbs’ legendary ‘people-skills’, and become an ‘official’ teammate of drafting-partner Tony Stewart (along-with Hamlin & Yelley) on that plate-tracks.

INTANGIBLES ~ RCR offers an ‘easy’ move for Junior, with friendly-faces, while Gibbs may treat him as ‘just-another-employee’ (which may-be GOOD for him):
JGR also offers J.D. Gibbs, who’ll run the company well-into the next 20+ seasons, while we’re not-sure WHO’LL run RCR the remainder of Jr’s career (how-old is Childress-himself?)

At the end-of-the-day, EITHER organization places Junior in-contention for races-wins, and Cup-Championships, NOW, leaving Junior’s primary-concern to be ‘crankin’-on-’at’whiil’, as his dad used-to say.