In the backstretch

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How DEI will keep from getting booed

With the departure of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Teresa Earnhardt’s refusal to let him take the number 8 with him, DEI was left with a dilemma.

The team almost has to get the 8 car on the track in 2008, otherwise it would look like the team didn’t need anything Junior brought to the table.

It would also mean the number would go back into the usual rotation and Hendrick could wind up with it anyway. So DEI needed to use that number, and that was a problem.

Despite Earnhardt himself asking people to lay off Teresa, the Red Nation is still incredibly angry at her for first allowing their relationship to degenerate to a point where he would even consider leaving, and then for refusing to let him use his own number with his new team.

Whomever they put in the 8 car was going to be booed out of the track. That was a problem.

Sponsors pay big money to have their name on the side of a race car and to have that car booed every time it went around the track was just unthinkable. So what was DEI to do?

There are many benefits to the merger between DEI and Ginn Racing. Most notably at the time was the multi-million dollar seven post rig that every team covets nowadays.

But there was another benefit too: Mark Martin.

DEI announced last week Martin would share driving duties with Aric Almirola and the car they would be in is none other than the 8 car. The first thing that crossed my mind at the time was, man, I’ve watched NASCAR longer than Mark Martin has been racing in it and Daytona will be the first time I will ever hear the man get booed at driver introductions.

Ahh, but someone at DEI was thinking, probably late into the night. How do we stop people from booing Mark Martin and the 8 car? Simple. It was a stroke of genius, really.

When the teams unload in Daytona for SpeedWeeks, the 8 car will be decked out in the colours of the United States Army.

With America fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there won’t be more than three or four people in the grandstands dumb enough to boo that car. If they do, I am quite sure they will quickly be shown the error of their ways.

As stupid as DEI was for letting Junior go, and for keeping that number, putting Mark Martin in the number 8 Army car was absolutely brilliant.

Casey Mears will be driving the 5 car in 2008, which leaves the 25 for Junior. They will almost certainly change the number. While I wouldn’t be changing the tattoos just yet, the number 81 seems like a pretty safe bet. It looked like they might get the 38 but with Robert Yates retiring at the end of the year, Doug Yates will be in charge of that number and I think he’s going to keep it.

It seems Jack Roush has finally figured out how to squirm his way around the four car rule coming into effect in 2009. He has entered into an agreement with Yates Racing that will see Roush-Fenway supply cars, engines, personnel and marketing to Yates. It could also mean moving one car and all support people over to Yates Racing.

There is another merger that might be on the horizon as well.

Kyle Petty has said in the past he’d consider selling part of Petty Enterprises if it would better the team. Now George Gillett, owner of the Montreal Canadiens and majority owner of Gillett-Evernham Motorsports, is interested in merging GEM with Petty Enterprises.

They could move both teams under one roof, which would fit in with Petty’s plan. The 43 and 45 cars would still operate at Petty Enterprises.

“Unlike some of the other teams, where the first pretty girl that flashes her eyes at them they marry, we’ll probably date a little bit before we marry,” Kyle Petty told ESPN.com.

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