Sponsorship deal may realign teams
If NAPA remains, DEI says it has prominent driver lined up for ride
INDIANAPOLIS - If Dale Earnhardt Inc. can keep NAPA as a sponsor for a third car next season, an already topsy-turvy "Silly Season" could get even wilder.
DEI Director of Motorsports Richie Gilmore said yesterday the team is negotiating with the auto-parts supplier about staying with the No. 15 being vacated by Michael Waltrip after 2005.
Gilmore said DEI already has lined up a driver to team with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Martin Truex Jr. for the 2006 Nextel Cup season. Gilmore wouldn't disclose a name but said it was someone prominent on another race team "that's been on our wish list for some time."
"[NAPA] has some options with us, Michael and some other race teams," Gilmore said. "We've put about a two-week window on it where they've got to make the decision and we've got to make a decision and go forward. But we have a driver kind of laid out, and everything laid out."
Gilmore also pooh-poohed the idea of reuniting Earnhardt Jr. with Tony Eury Jr. if the No. 8 Chevrolet were to qualify for the Chase for the Nextel Cup. Earnhardt won a career-high six races last year with Eury as car chief. An offseason shake-up moved Eury to Waltrip's team as crew chief this year.
"I would say that scenario would take away from both teams, so we wouldn't even look at that," Gilmore said. "That would affect both teams in a negative [way]."
Gilmore said the possibility of naming Eury as Earnhardt's crew chief for next season hadn't been discussed much.
"It's still too early," he said. "There's been a lot of talk outside of DEI but not at our company."
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Like cheese through the shredder, so go the days in NASCAR. Thus we bring you another episode of "All My Silly Seasons". After Matt Kenseth spouted off to
Marty Smith of NASCAR.com about STILL not being consulted about Jamie McMurray's 2007 signing at Roush Racing (in a related note, McMary's been ducking the Robot, claiming he'd try the Flash method of anger management),
RacingOne is saying the rumor mill is that he'll be leaving Roush soon and there's a spot at DEI in his immediate future.
Will Robot no longer be senior man at Roush Racing? Will McMary actually bite off more than he can chew? Will DEI instantly become a force to be reckoned with, and can Jr's and Robot's frienship survive being teammates? Tune in next time, when we speculate on these and other questions.