NASCAR's DEI May Now Be EGR but the Troubles Persist

When Dale Earnhardt Incorporated (DEI) merged with Ganassi Racing in the off season to form Earnhardt Ganassi Racing (EGR) all of the problems that were plaguing the teams were supposed to melt away. DEI was the team with the most trouble and though they may now be known as EGR, their troubles are still persisting.

Last season DEI faced the mass exodus of drivers and sponsors at the end of the year. The team fielded four cars last year with only three being sponsored and lost Mark Martin and his Army sponsorship (although the Army did not go with Martin) and Paul Menard and his sponsor Menards (they of course did go with Menard). That left the team with three drivers, four cars and one full time sponsor.

Ganassi racing had a similar season. They started off by fielding three cars but when they lost a sponsor mid way through the season they were forced to shut down one of the teams. At the end of the season they lost driver Reed Sorenson and long time sponsor Texaco-Havoline. This left the team with one driver, three cars and one and a half sponsors. Enter the merger.

When the two teams merged they had what they thought would be able to secure enough sponsorship to go around and enable them to field four cars. The team announced that the driver/car line-up for 2009 would be Aric Almirola in the #8 with sponsorship to be announced, Juan-Pablo Montoya in the #42 with partial sponsorship from Wrigleys, Martin Truex Jr. in the #1 with sponsorship from Bass Pro Shops and another driver to be named later for the #41 car to be sponsored by Target. The news got even better for EGR as they went out and signed veteran driver and 2000 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Bobby Labonte to drive the #41. All was set with the lineup and the team was left to find sponsorship. But none has been found.

The team is still stuck with its same lineup of sponsors and has recently admitted it is considering putting Labonte in the #8 as he has some interest from sponsors and moving Almirola to the #41 and only run him in a limited schedule. The Target sponsorship seems like it may be chopped up between the teams. Sound like the same old song doesn't it?

Now the team is faced with four cars and not even enough sponsorship to cover three of them. This trend has seemed to continue for the late DEI since the decision was made by owner Teresa Earnhardt to let Dale Earnhardt Jr. leave the company instead of giving him control of it. Since that fateful decision things have just gone downhill for the once great company and they don't seem to be getting any better.

As for Earnhardt Jr. well he is enjoying his new home at Hendrick Motorsports where he is constantly in the hunt for a win and not behind the wall with a blown engine. His own personal team JR Motorsports is thriving as well and securing plenty of sponsorship to go around. So while it may no longer be DEI and is now EGR, the troubles remain the same and seem to be lingering. How do you feel about letting Jr. go now Teresa?

Sources throughout this article came from jayski.com and nascar.com