Dale Earnhardt Inc. Wrenches New Engines

Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) was founded by legenendary NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt as a business that would allow him to continue to participate in racing after he retired from driving while he was still winning races for his long-time team, Richard Childress Racing.

After Dale Earnhardt's last lap fatal accident in the 2001 Daytona 500 the future of NASCAR was to be reenigineered with the formation of NASCAR Research and Development to develop a racecar that would be better able to protect NASCAR's most important asset, it's drivers, when the inevitable multi-car crashes occur during the 190 mile-per-hour races.

DEI, along with the other NASCAR racing teams worked on getting the "Car of Tomorrow" (as NASCAR named the racecar it designed) to handle during it's introductory races in the 2007 season. While the COT was first introduced at the "short tracks" (a mile or less) the proven chassis was raced at the Super Speedways. This created a great financial burden on the smaller teams as they already had to prepare separate cars for the different length tracks and the COT added another layer of expenses as the crew chiefs and mechanics tried by trial and testing to get the new racecars to handle as the different tracks characteristics were encountered.

DEI had further problems as the Chevy engines it's machine shop were building had a series of reliabilty problems as driver Martin Truex Jr. experienced losing two races because of engine failures. DEI has merged it's engine building program with that of Richard Childress Racing and added Ginn Racing's to field a four racecar team to be better able to compete with the Hendricks Motorsports super team, that of the current NASCAR Chase Champion Jimmie Johnson.

On June 4, 2007 Martin Truex Jr. took the checkered flag at Dover International Speedway, Delaware, in his first NASCAR Cup Series win, the "Autism Speaks 400" mile race. Martin Truex Jr. was the lap leader for over half the race, 216 of the 400 laps and the final 54, his Chevy engine running strong for the race's entire length predicting better racing ahead.

Martin Truex Jr. drove fast enough in qualifying at the Texas Motor Speedway later in the season to win the "pole position" (first inside the first row of 43 racecars starting each NASCAR Cup Series race.) The first three finishers of that race were: #1 Jimmie Johnson, Chevy (Hendricks Motorsports) #2 Matt Kenseth, Ford and #3 Martin Truex Jr, Chevy, DEI.

Martin Truex Jr. finished 12th in the Chase for the Championship points so he is guaranteed a starting spot in the premiere race of the 2008 season, the Daytona 500.