Dale Earnhardt Jr. signs 5-year contract with Hendrick Motorsports
Dale Earnhardt Jr. became the most coveted free agent in sports when he announced last month his departure from Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Today Junior announced at a press conference that he has signed a 5-year deal with Hendrick Motorsports, the current team to beat in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series with 10 wins in the last 14 races. Hendrick, however, was very fortunate that one of its four current drivers, Kyle Busch, asked to be released from his contract with the team, which opened up a spot to sign Junior. The young Earnhardt will get his wish to continue driving Chevys, though his sponsorship, paint scheme and number are yet to be determined.
Follow the link to SpeedTV for a full report on Junior's move, and check out our gallery of the press conference below
[Source: SpeedTV, Photos – Grant Halverson/Getty]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mr. Oak 2:13PM (6/13/2007)
Now that he and Jeff Gordon are going to be teammates, maybe his fans won't boo JG as much.
Congrats. Jr. smart choice.
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Shift head 2:18PM (6/13/2007)
Hendrick Motorsports just signed a gold mine that Teresa and their team idiotically didn't sign. This ranks right up there the worst decisions in sports history. Dale Earnhardt, Inc. has no future. Hendrick is already running everyone else in the ground. It only gets worse from here. Imagine the momentum and morale this team(Hendrick) now has.
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Mr. Oak 2:35PM (6/13/2007)
Got to agree with you there. As the NASCAR caravan goes from track to track, they have about 15 Semis that setup as booths selling NASCAR memorabilia. Of the 15 trucks, 6 are dedicated to Jr.'s memorabilia. This kid is a walking gold mine.
Jon 2:25PM (6/13/2007)
Although I am not an Earnhardt fan, I would have loved to have seen Jr. drive the 3 for Childress. It's too bad that didn't work out, but at least Earnhardt got his wish in continuing to drive a Chevy.
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Yorgmeister 4:00PM (6/13/2007)
He has said that he wants to drive the 3 at the *end* of his career, which I imagine is probably 15-20 years away or more. Right now, he needs to be in a good car, and there isn't any better than Hendrick right now. Especially if you consider next year is all COT, and Hendrick's COT cars are far and away the class of the sport.
He could not have made a better decision.
Paul 2:30PM (6/13/2007)
Man this is great... I would love to see 24, 48, XX runing towards the checkered all together!
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Viv 2:33PM (6/13/2007)
What a great day to be a HMS fan. Wohoooooooooo
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nascardeb 12:01PM (6/19/2007)
you can't beat em, u may as well join em.
Dustin 4:12PM (6/13/2007)
Your welcome for the tip last night...... and no emails back John.
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thetruth 7:42PM (6/13/2007)
What a freaking idiot, he could have dug his hands into Toyota's deep pockets for some real money instead he chooses to act like a spoiled child to get back at his stepmother for not giving him his dads company, funny that his dad left it to her only, even though his current team mate Truex seems to have no problem winning or driving well with current equipment from DEI and may even beat Jr. to the cup some day (what a riot that would be) anyway now he is going to be driving for a lying cheat and still might not ever win a championship even with the well known cheating issues of Hendrick, IDIOT !!!!!!
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nascardeb 9:15PM (6/13/2007)
u are so right!
What makes him think they won't boo him too.
mike 11:13PM (6/13/2007)
I still don't like nascar
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marcos 2:46PM (8/01/2007)
don't watch it dude. check out the first lap of any F1 race and you got the winner. why bore yourself with a Nascar race. 4 hours of lead changes and actual competition. I'm not against any racing, but if you don't like Nascar you just don't get racing. marcos
Burnout 4:51AM (6/14/2007)
Technically Dale's dad didn't leave it to Theresa. In most states when one spouse dies the property automatically reverts to the custody of the surviving spouse.
Of course if DEI had been incorporated in a state with Community property laws then Theresa might have been liable for taxes from the sale of DEI. But this is really theoretical matter.
This is what happens under law. If Dale Sr. could have opted to give Dale Jr. shares. However he would have to pay gift taxes if the amount is over $11,000.
In addition if both Theresa and Dale Sr. had died there probably would have been estate tax issues.
Just because Dale Sr. did not give Jr. DEI doesn't mean he didn't intend for him to have it. There are all sorts of tax issues to consider when transfering property from one person to another.
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