Not much going on in the racing world since the (yawn) end of the NASCAR Cup Season...Fans are left with a curious feeling that the next season will be the most political one in many years. The "Car of Tomorrow" (now the Car of Today??) has proven to be a clumpy unwieldy un-racy effort created by NASCAR supposably in the name of safety. It just seems odd--NASCAR has never really gone out on a limb about safety before. That was left to the teams and innovators such as Bill Simpson, who was nearly driven out of the sport in 2001 after NASCAR attempted to blame his equipment for the death of Dale Earnhardt....
How will Junior do at Hendrick? How many folks truly care anymore? It still leaves a hollow feeling and taste for true Earnhardt fans. And these attempts to re-engineer history by claiming that Rick Hendrick and Dale Earnhardt were friends, buddies....Does anyone REALLY believe that? Some us us have been race fans since the mid 1970's. And, we have a loooooooooonnnnnnggggg memory when it comes to Dale. It's a moot point to argue that if Dale were around he'd be livid with Junior. Because, frankly, if Dale were still around--well, you can bet your last dime that Junior would not have defected to the enemy camp.
Folks are trying to make Teresa Earnhardt the wicked stepmom, but if you think this through--there was a LOT more to the sudden demand by Junior and sister Kelley for 51 percent of DEI. Some clever person in the background--probably someone who has a history of lies, deceit, bribery--was the mastermind behind that. What better way to cause a rift at DEI? This person has been playing Dale Jr. like a violin...and it's not to Junior's benefit, unfortunately.
So, this is my crystal ball background for 2008. It'll take a few months, but the defection of Junior to Hendrick Racing is not going to be the answer for him, unfortunately. It's going to take awhile, but that initial comment by Hendrick, "there's no room at the Inn" (kind of appropriate for this Christmas season), which suddenly became "Of course we have room for Junior!!" will prove to be prophetic. There IS no room at Hendrick Racing for Dale Junior--unless Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are going to move over. Why should they??
