Parting Is Not Such Sweet Sorrow
Earlier this year Dale Earnhardt Jr. finally made the announcement that he would in fact depart from DEI, the company that his own father built back in the mid-90’s and the race team that Junior has driven for ever since he entered the Nextel Cup back in 1999 (then known as the “Winston” Cup). Dale Junior struck a deal with one of NASCARS elite organizations (if not THE elite organization) and set to drive for Rick Hendrick in 2008, taking over Kyle Busch’s number 25 Kellog’s Chevy. Junior won’t be the only new face to this race team, though, as it was later announced that he would be bringing along his current Crew Chief and cousin, Tony Eury Jr. The race car will also change its number to 88 and will receive a fresh set of sponsors to boot. Things are looking rather optimistic for Earnhardt these days, so much in fact that the team has decided that they just cannot wait until Daytona to get things started.
It was announced early this week that Tony Eury would be departing his current team in just two weeks with his last DEI race falling at perhaps his favorite track, Talladega, where Eury (along with his father) have joined Earnhardt in sharing a great deal of success over the years. After all the great runs they’ve had this year only to suffer late-race engine failures, this team is completely amped up right now to end their tenures with DEI on a high note, and I firmly believe that Talladega is likely to be this duo’s stomping ground one final time as employees of Dale Earnhardt Incorporated.
Now, that being said and despite their desire to win some more races for the company before defecting over to Hendrick Motorsports, I believe this is absolutely without a doubt the right move for everyone involved. This gives Tony Gibson, who served as Junior’s interim Crew Chief during Eury’s suspension earlier in the season, a great opportunity to become much more acquainted and experienced with the roles of the Crew Chief before taking on the task of calling the shots for youngster Ragan Smith, who will drive the no. 1 Chevy for DEI next year. More importantly, Eury Junior will be able to get a head start on learning more about the program over at Hendrick and start getting their team ready for Daytona in February.
Tags: Dale Earnhardt, dale earnhardt inc, dale earnhardt jr, Daytona 500, Daytona International Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports, Kyle Busch, NASCAR, nextel cup series, talladega superspeedway, tony eury jr, uaw ford 500, winston cup seriesRelated Stories
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