The Junior sweepstakes
It looks like we're about to have a winner. Junior has summoned the traveling NASCAR media circus to his race shop at 11 a.m. Wednesday for a Big Announcement. I'm operating under the assumption that Junior will announce his 2008 team.
So the question is: Where? Childress or maybe Ginn would seem to be the favorites. Who's your pick?
Speed Channel will show the whole thing live at 11 a.m.
Update 1: Scene Daily says that Gibbs and Ginn teams aren't part of the briefing and that Childress is out of the country. Hendrick, meanwhile, gave a no comment.
Update 2: AP's Jenna Fryer pushes the Hendrick rock a little further up the hill:
Rick Hendrick currently has four drivers under contract, and told the AP last month "there was no room at the inn" for Earnhardt. NASCAR rules permit a car owner to field four Nextel Cup teams. But multiple sources — speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity because Earnhardt's plans have not been announced — said Hendrick officials have been working for nearly three weeks to figure out how to bring the star driver into the fold. One scenario could put Earnhardt into the No. 5 car that Kyle Busch currently drives.
I guess I'd fire Kyle Busch, too, if that meant getting Junior. Still, that's a little cold, even for Hendrick.
Update 3: ESPN's David Newton pronounces Ginn out of the running, can't get Gibbs on the phone, notes Childress is in New Zealand till Thursday (hunting grapes?) and can't quite pull the trigger on the Hendrick possibility.
Update 4: Poole and Utter also say the wind is blowing toward Hendrick. ESPN.com's Marty Smith is saying Hendrick - either in the 5 or 25 (Mears staying and maybe switching cars, Busch out). Jayski is rounding up here.
Comments (5)
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I was wondering why no one has said he may just end up back at DEI. He could have used this to really scare DEI into 51% of the company. Or he may have just realized how good DEI could be with what Truex has done in the past two races.
Posted on June 12, 2007 2:01 PM
Reports are Junior will sign with HMS. Kyle is out at end of year or before then, saying he wants out of HMS contract, yeah right. Junior might be racing in a HMS car before end of season.
Junior Nation is destroyed. Junior is in bed with the enemy.
HMS will NEVER lose a restrictor race with these thoroughbreds in the stable.
Posted on June 12, 2007 3:33 PM
Jason: I think everyone's taking Junior at his word that he wouldn't be back at DEI next year. That bridge has gone up in flames, I think.
Jon: That sound you just heard is Junior Nation's head exploding. You mean we have to root for Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson? I think I might be sick.
More seriously, assuming the Junior-to-Hendrick reports are true, when was the last time one owner had so much talent on the payroll? That's a combined 5 Cup championships and 124 Cup wins.
Posted on June 12, 2007 3:53 PM
First off, I have to say that I'm mighty relieved that The Spotter survived last week's awful round of job cuts. I was a little worried when I didn't see any recent postings, but, thankfully, even those greedhead idiots know not to mess with the Nascar demographic.
Onto Junior, if he does indeed drive for Hendrick THIS YEAR, it will show that he hates his stepmother nearly as much as I despise mine.
But, I can easily continue to cheer for Junior and still regard Gordon as a girl's driver and Johnson as a rolling traffic hazard. Especially if Bud remains on the car.
Finally, it's going to be interesting to see if Junior gets the kind of money he deserves. To me, that's easily NFL/NBA franchise player money--like $00 million-plus over four or five years... Hendrick could easily make that money back from t-shirt sales alone, but paying Junior that kind of jack is going to create uncomfortable conversations with Gordon and Johnson, both of which, I'm sure, will demand parity.
It ought to be one hell of a press conference.
Posted on June 12, 2007 5:41 PM
Well at least Jeff Gordon knows how to get a girl.
Posted on June 13, 2007 9:01 AM