Dale Jr. to Hendrick Motorsports

And a 5-year deal. No news on sponsor, number or alignment.

 

By the way, who are these guys on the Charlotte all-sports station? They sound like total morons, not Rosinski, but his sidekicks.

 

Oh darn, no more Junior in Wrangler Jeans or Drakkar commercials.

 

Yeah, now you'll be seeing him in Lowe's commcercials.

 

Wrangler may go with him as an associate, if possible. Johnson has Levi Strauss as a personal sponsor, so I'm not sure how that will shake out.

I would be shocked if Budweiser's not the sponsor and/or the car number is not 5. I have heard Budweiser fully intends to stay with Junior for as long as possible. As for the car number, remember that the 5 team was Hendrick's first team when it was called All-Star Racing with Geoff Bodine driving and Northwestern Security Life as the sponsor.

That said ... the National Guard sponsorship is always a year-by-year thing; I believe all the military sponsorships are that way. So Junior and Bud could very well go to the 25 with Mears moving to the 5 team; Carquest and Kellogg's are signed through the end of the 2009 season, according to Jayski. On the other hand, Mears is signed through 2009, so the Kellogg's/Carquest colors could go to the 25 just as easily, theoretically setting that team in place for the next two years.

 

Dustin Long's saying that somehow Hendrick found a way around the year-by-year deals with the NG. So that would be another complicating factor...

He also raises a good point about Bud becoming an associate sponsor and taking over the primary whenever Kellogg's/NG expires.

http://home.hamptonroads.com/blog/new_thread.cfm?page=206&page_id=8079&uid=85

 

Kellogg's/Carquest is through 2009 on the 5.

I'd wait for hard evidence on claims that the Guard sponsorship runs past this season. I suspect that while there might be a gentlemen's agreement to stay there for several years, the only thing on paper is for this season.

 

And Bud will offer far more money than the Guard would.

 

The fact that everything has to have a sponsor is the thing I detest the most about NASCAR, although I understand that it's a necessary evil. But I have a new favorite track: Pocono. It doesn't have lights, so there are no evil night races, and the owner decided that he doesn't want the name of his races to include a corporate name.

 

Ancillary to the story, but David Poole takes on the Mouse over who broke what and when:

http://turn-lane.blogspot.com/2007/06/this-aint-news-standing-up-for-what-you.html

 

Love the asshat telling David that he makes less than $100K a year and should act like it.

I hate readers sometimes.

 

Some readers are idiots. ESPN's cup runneth over with arrogance and bullies.

So what else is new?