I bet Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans are going nuts, bitterly disappointed about joining the ranks of Jeff Gordon. A couple of weeks ago the local newspaper ran an article that said Earnhardt Jr. merchandise sales had actually increased since he announced he was leaving DEI. What happens to all that merchandise? eBay? I would assume there is too much of it on the market for it to have any real value.
Bud or no Bud? My money is on Budwesier going over to Hendrick Motorsports. Junior and Bud have too much of a good thing to have it any other way.
If Junior has the resources and the backing of HMS, and he does not win a ton of races, then we can say that Little E is over rated. However, if he finally wins races (and a Championship) he will become ungodly popular. This should be fun to watch.
Bud are going with Junior for ’08, or at least he’s continuing to endorse their products and all the rest of it – it’s pretty difficult to imagine that they won’t have their branding on the car, though you never know.
One thing that’s surprised me is that it’s Kyle Busch making way and not Casey Mears – I didn’t realise the relationship between Hendrick and Busch was at the point where a split was the sensible way forward, and I’m not sure I believe you’d take Mears over Busch in any other circumstances so it must be solely to do with that.
I thought Mears would do better than he has, but maybe now he is coming into his own. It has to be hard to be the number four guy at HMS, which is not going to change for Mears anytime soon.
I have never been a fan of Busch (either one) and I actually drink Miller Lite.