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The View From Fanville

The Continuing Saga Of Dale Earnhardt Junior

By Amy Hair
Senior columnist,Cup Scene Daily
July 14
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Alrighty, the inevitable has now been confirmed…Budweiser and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will not be a couple after this season is over. At least as far as a major sponsor goes, they’ll be separated. Lot’s of Mom’s and Dad’s may be slyly smiling as they won’t have to explain to Grandma and Grandpa why their young grandson is running around with a Budweiser hat on at the age of ten.

So…what are the other options? Contrary to rumors, the most obvious is to throw Jr. into the Kellogg’s car. After all, it’s the one being vacated to make room for Jr. over at Hendrick Motorsports right? Yeah, but nothing, absolutely nothing is that simple in NASCAR.

--(Cont'd From Front Page)-- We’re hearing all kinds of rumors, whispers and gossip about which sponsor will be on the hood of the new Jr. car.

We still don’t have a number…but I doubt it will be the No. 5. That ‘s currently tied to that Kellogg’s car. I’m thinking HMS will turn that number in and if they can’t get the No. 8 for Jr., they’ll request a new number. Jr. did say during one of his news conferences that they’ve got a few ideas as far as numbers go…just in case they don’t get the 8.

While his fans are going full force with their “Free the 8” campaign, Jr. and his new boss probably have this all worked out already and are spending very little time worrying about the number. That’s not to say HMS won’t get the 8, but it’s worrying the fans a whole lot more than it’s worrying anyone that will be working with Dale, Jr.

Okay, everyone knows that the women that watch NASCAR not only love the high risk, high energy, competitive stuff that goes on out there on the track, but they tend to notice a few things that the men could care less about. Let’s say Dale, Jr. ends up in the Kellogg’s car…that will work, a blue uniform on Jr. is a popular choice. His fans like his look in blue.

So what if he ends up in a lime green color fire suit? Well hmmm, not sure how he’ll look in that…almost red hair…green suit…it might work.

How about bright yellow? Ugh, now that just won’t work, fair skinned red heads just about look ill when they wear yellow, so his fans are hoping his new sponsor isn’t going to be someone with that color on top.

How about orange? They say that’s Jr’s favorite color…. why I’m not sure because once again, red heads and orange clothing just look yuck.

With all the changes that are happening in the world of Dale, Jr., his fans really are getting a pretty good handle on them. Most of them have opened up their chat boards and welcomed the Jeff Gordon fans in…that alone is a huge step. I must say the Jeff Gordon fans have done the same, so they are beginning to mesh just a bit. The colors, the car, the sponsor and such really don’t concern them as much as the number. That number thing really has them bogged down.

I wonder how long it will be before we hear anything on the number. Perhaps we already have heard and just don’t want to acknowledge it. Seems like if the “8” was going to head on over to HMS with Jr., someone would have said something by now.

My gut feeling? Teresa Earnhardt and her crew are sitting on the “8”, not even thinking of giving it up and will put their new driver in that car expecting everyone to just accept that poor guy behind the wheel.

The fans may not play much of a part in the decisions that are made up in the big cooperate racing offices…but they sure can make or break the acceptance of a driver when he’s out on the track.

I pity the guy that tries to step into that DEI car with the number “8” on it. It will take a long, long time before the fans don’t associate that number with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. And just like kids, fans can be very cruel sometimes. The new driver will be all excited about his new ride and the Jr. fans will be down right insulted that their favorite number now belongs to someone else.