Motorsports

Now on display at DEI: Change, change and more change

Tony Stewart, once asked what Dale Earnhardt Inc. would be without Dale Earnhardt Jr., replied, "A museum."

By BRANT JAMES
Published February 13, 2008

Respected veteran driver Mark Martin, right, who came to DEI last season in a merger with Ginn Racing, will share the No. 8 Chevrolet with Tampa's Aric Almirola.
	[Associated Press]

DAYTONA BEACH - Tony Stewart, once asked what Dale Earnhardt Inc. would be without Dale Earnhardt Jr., replied, "A museum."

The team founded by Earnhardt's father still exists without its most successful driver, cobbled together and perhaps weakened, at least in public perception.

And so begins the next phase in DEI's 28-year existence, the post-Junior era, without NASCAR's most popular driver (and the man who won more Sprint Cup races, 17, for the company than anyone else). Not to mention the scores of other employees, including crew chief and cousin Tony Eury Jr., former crew chief and uncle Tony Eury, former technical director Steve Hmiel and others who followed Earnhardt out the door.

DEI, circa 2008, is a museum with little living history, aside from that brought in by respected veteran Mark Martin, a semi-retired winner of 35 Cup races who will split time in Earnhardt's old No. 8 Chevrolet with Tampa 23-year-old Aric Almirola. Martin, who came to DEI last season in a merger with Ginn Racing, will again run 24 points races in his methodical exit from a sport he's been a part of for 25 years.

Earnhardt, now with Hendrick Motorsports, calls himself a "Mark Martin fan" and views the 49-year-old as the perfect custodian of a number his family has raced for generations. He recalled an evening as a boy when Martin came to the Earnhardt house with a couple of videotapes and a fervent desire to find the means to stay in racing.

"He came over to my Dad's house and put a couple of tapes in of him winning some races in Nashville in his No. 2 Dillon ASA car in a Beta VCR," Earnhardt said. "He was trying his hardest to show my Dad how good of a race car driver he was. I think he would have shown anybody at that point to keep himself in to this series. ...Mark had a long, long road to get there and I can appreciate that and he has earned it."

Martin Truex Jr., 27, yanked out of the obscurity of the Northeast circuit by an impressed Earnhardt, returns to the No. 1 Chevrolet a year after winning his first race at NASCAR's highest level and making the Chase for the Championship. The two-time Nationwide champion finished 11th. He returns with more pressure and responsibility than ever, though his demeanor suggests his seasons watching Earnhardt manage fame and scrutiny were invaluable.

"It's a different position than I've ever been in, but I'm excited about it," he said. "So far it's been a real seamless transition for me. ... I certainly get different questions, but a lot of things still feel the same. The 'number one' thing is just a label."

Paul Menard, whose best finish was 12th last year in his full-season debut, returns in the No. 15.

"It's time for us to step up and shine," Menard said.

Regan Smith, another asset acquired in the Ginn deal, will drive the No. 01 Chevrolet, led by crew chief Doug Richert, who at the record age of 20 won a title with Dale Earnhardt Sr. in 1980.

After signing Truex's crew chief, Kevin Manion, to a three-year deal, DEI officials think the team has finally found its footing after a tumultuous summer. The merger with Ginn cost the team talent in the shop as much as Earnhardt's move cost it talent in the cockpit. Respected crew chief Ryan Pemberton, who had worked with Joe Nemechek and Martin in the No. 01 Chevrolet, left to run David Reutimann's team at Michael Waltrip Racing. Martin said his team's morale was affected when the merger left scores of former Ginn employees jobless.

"I'm not disappointed with the way it happened. I'm disappointed I couldn't get a smile on my race team's face," Martin said. "I never managed to get a smile on their face from the merger until the end. When the season wound down, a number of them found new jobs. I tried my guts out. I did everything I can do."

Martin's outlook now, however, seems to embody what DEI as a company is seeking to embrace. He said working in concert as a four-car team is "really paramount to me," and logically could determine how long he races.

"I'm really excited to go to the racetrack and work with a race team that has a smile on their face, has a good attitude and has the can-do spirit," he said.

A repeat of his runnerup performance in the Daytona 500 last February would certainly help the mood. And if he could improve it, the team would have something new to put in that museum.

[Last modified February 12, 2008, 23:27:56]