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Posted on August
17, 2007
NO #8
for Junior, are you surprised?
Hendrick Motor Sports
officially announced Wednesday that Dale
Earnhardt Jr. would not be driving the
number 8 car next year. In short they
Marshall Carlson, General Manager of
HMS, stated “Unfortunately, we couldn't
reach a point where the terms made
sense, and now we have to move forward
with other options.”
So just what does that statement really
mean? Well I predicted months ago that
the number 8 would not move with Junior
and I stand by statement that HMS NEVER
wanted the number. This is all BIG
Business and the main reason for signing
Junior is Dollars, lots and lots of
Dollars. Dale is a great driver, but
more importantly he gets fans to open
their wallets to show their support of
him. Look at any Nascar Nextel Cup race
and try to avoid seeing the Sea of RED,
it’s just not possible.
Junior Nation has spent more money than
any other drivers fans on souvenirs over
the past several years. One really hard
thing for Junior fans to accept is Jeff
Gordon as a teammate to their hero.
Junior fans have hated no driver more
than they have Jeff, and now they have
to swallow him as a teammate, a bitter
pill for sure.
If junior arrived at Daytona with a red
#8, with or without Budweiser, many of
those Gordon haters would have refused
to buy new shirts and jackets to deny
Rick Hendrick a share of their dollars.
Eventually, they would have opened up
and spent the money, but HMS would have
been denied that huge surge of income.
The big media campaign to convince DEI
to release the 8 was nothing but a
smokescreen, or as I stated before , a
PLOY to discredit Teresa Earnhardt and
garner supports for Junior teaming up
with Gordon. Even Ricky Rachtman jumped
on the bandwagon, he needed to try to
drum up any kind of race fans he could
find, because he sure seems clueless
when he starts talking Nascar. Or maybe
he’s not clueless and just disregards
facts to drum up ratings…I don’t know.
So get ready Junior Nation cause next
year Dale Jr. will be sporting Tony the
Tiger on the 5 car, cause just like
Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, Junior is
GREEEEEAAAAAAT!
You can contact
Joe at
joe@onpitroad.net
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