A special Dale Jr. scheme from the DEI era.
The silly season is here. In April. Kasey Kahne has been given the credit as the first domino to fall, and now it is apparent that Kevin Harvick will be the final piece to the puzzle that will make up the 2011 cast of drivers. I don’t think so. I think that may fall with Dale Earnhardt Jr.
This is how I envision the players of next season’s driver lineup.
Kasey Kahne goes to the number 5 car early as Mark Martin moves to the number 25. You say to yourself, “Daniel, there is a four team limit in Nascar. How can that work?” It works when you release Dale Earnhardt Jr. from Hendrick Motorsports. The number 88 becomes the 25, and Earnhardt Jr. fans have to get yet another tattoo change. With his release, Dale Jr. moves to the place where Nascar fans old and young would hope he would go and flourish: Richard Childress Racing driving the famed number 3.
Putting Jr. in the number 3 allows RCR to gain him, keep Harvick should they prove able to resign him and elevate the unproductive performance from the Hendrick experiment and finally, give both Martin and Kahne a home for 2011 and beyond.
Sound crazy? Maybe not so crazy. As it stands, Earnhardt Jr., in association with RCR, HMS and Dale Earnhardt Inc. is working on a deal that will see Dale Jr. in a number 3 car for the July Daytona race for sponsor Wrangler.
Speaking of sponsors. Who picks up the tab for all this. RCR is a Coca Cola Team, and Hendrick is a Pepsi Team. Dale Jr.’s current sponsor in Mountain Dew, a Pepsi product. The move to RCR could mean that the Dew sponsorship goes away, perhaps to Kahne in the 5 car. Dale Jr. could continue his relationship with the National Guard and Wrangler, much like his father did in the 1980′s, possibly to a championship.
Harvick, should he stay at RCR, could be the benefactor of Kahne leaving Richard Petty Motorsports and Budwieser. The Bud sponsorship could go to RCR’s 29 car. Better yet, Dale Jr. reunites with Budwieser, and Harvick drives a car sponsored by the National Guard.
I highly doubt any of this will happen the way I have laid it out, but isn’t it nice to dream? Can you imagine a red and black Bud 3 car driven by Dale Jr.? I can.
