So... The #8 will be the #88 next year.

[TruckDriver]

In case you missed the boring race, they said a official announcement will come this week that Jr. will sport the number 88 next year. 

[HITMAN 149]

i thought he was supposed to do #38??? 3 for pops, and 8 for his olast car number!?!?!?!

[68chrgrwife]

hubby said 38 is the M&M car...so he could get that number...

88 is good for though..Jr fans just have to get a little touch up on their tatoos and car stickers......LOL

[TruckDriver]

88 is good for though..Jr fans just have to get a little touch up on their tatoos and car stickers......LOL

That is my thought too. I also thought 08 would of been good too, but another guy already has that number.

[70charger_boy]

I thought 88 was dale jarrett???  Did he retire?

[Ponch ®]

I thought 88 was dale jarrett???  Did he retire?

No...when he moved to MWR and took UPS with him, Yates kept the #88 (which Ricky Rudd ran this year). Jarrett is #44 this year...on the occasion that he makes it into a race, that is. 

[472 R/T SE]

Yates' kid told Hendrick no way on the #38 but yet the #88 is OK.  Don't know what sentimental reasons are behind that. 

[70charger_boy]

I thought 88 was dale jarrett???  Did he retire?

No...when he moved to MWR and took UPS with him, Yates kept the #88 (which Ricky Rudd ran this year). Jarrett is #44 this year...on the occasion that he makes it into a race, that is. 

Thanks for the info.  I haven't watched in a while

[Lowprofile]

From Fox News..........


NASCAR's most popular driver will be in the No. 88 Chevrolet when he moves to Hendrick Motorsports next season, the team announced Wednesday. Earnhardt's car will be sponsored by Pepsi, with the company's Mountain Dew soft drink and Amp Energy drink featured on the car. The National Guard will also be involved in the sponsorship.
The new number and sponsor are another step in the rebranding of Earnhardt from party boy to serious corporate pitchman, one that now can be heavily marketed to the under-21 crowd.

"I never thought a car number would create this much excitement," said car owner Rick Hendrick, who has won five Nextel Cup titles. "Trying to do it and keep it quiet from the rest of the world until you have it all together, it was probably the toughest thing I've ever done in motorsports."



Earnhardt has driven the No. 8 Chevrolet for DEI since 2000 with Budweiser's sponsorship. He tried to take the No. 8 with him to Hendrick, but stepmother Teresa Earnhardt refused to give up her rights to it. Mark Martin and Aric Almirola will co-drive that car next year and it will be sponsored by the U.S. Army.

Budweiser will become the primary sponsor next season for the No. 9 Dodge driven by Kasey Kahne.

"It's important that we work hard and make a good statement as we close this out and start a new chapter next year," Earnhardt said. "The anticipation is at a boiling point. I'm ready to get over to Rick's and start racing."

The No. 88 was retired by Robert Yates Racing, which asked NASCAR to transfer the number to Hendrick for Earnhardt.

"Ralph Earnhardt drove the No. 88 Olds in 1957 and because of this number's history with the Earnhardt family, I felt car No. 88 should continue with Dale Earnhardt, Jr.," Robert Yates said in a statement. "Younger fans don't realize I built cars and raced against Ralph. I also had a very close relationship with Dale Earnhardt, Sr. I'm proud to transfer this number to Dale Jr."

The driver unveiled his line of candy bars, "Dale Jr.'s Big Mo'," at a candy expo in Chicago on Tuesday.

Earnhardt had already signed personal services contracts with Adidas and Sony. He became the fourth athlete to receive a clothing line from Adidas, joining soccer's David Beckham, football's Reggie Bush and basketball's Tracy McGrady.

The car sponsorship was announced in Dallas, where 1,500 Pepsi bottlers were holding their annual meeting. Earnhardt appeared before that group before publicly announcing the deal.

[Ponch ®]

Man...those new color schemes are UGLY. And the new number font sucks too....

[74-StreetMachine]

I agree with ya Ponch, those are the ugliest paint schemes I have ever seen. 
The also the numbers need to be slanted more.

[chargerboy69]

Man...those new color schemes are UGLY. And the new number font sucks too....

I could not agree more.

There is nothing about the cars that are cool.

[Ponch ®]

I agree with ya Ponch, those are the ugliest paint schemes I have ever seen. 
The also the numbers need to be slanted more.

....I know they're trying to give Jr. his own identity, but the schemes/numbers are way off the Hendrick style which, say what you will, are among the best looking cars in NASCAR.

IMHO, the 8's should have at least resembled the 48 font..:



Instead, they look like they bought all the surplus 8 decals from the 18 car, which is one of the ugliest:

[ChargerSG]

 :popcrn:cant help my self... like 90% of the cars look like crap anyway

[Ponch ®]

But on a serious note...is it a good idea for Jr. to bring Tony Eury along with him to HMS? Hard to tell how good of a crew chief he is, since he can only do so much with the engines/chassis/crews he's had at DEI (just like Jr). Maybe they will be very successful...but so much for a fresh start for Jr. And what happens if he does suck and Hendrick decides he needs to go...how will Jr. react?

I know theres family loyalty involved...but I would think that Jr. would be better off with one of the people that already work for Hendrick.

[General_01]

I was talking to one of my buddies who is a huge Jr. fan. I told him two months ago that if Jr took Tony with him, he wouldn;t make the chase, let alone win a championship. Tony Jr. is just a poor crew chief. He makes poor decisions during races and the crew lets him down at critical times. Dale Jr is an idiot if he takes Tony Jr with him.

[Ponch ®]

I was talking to one of my buddies who is a huge Jr. fan. I told him two months ago that if Jr took Tony with him, he wouldn;t make the chase, let alone win a championship. Tony Jr. is just a poor crew chief. He makes poor decisions during races and the crew lets him down at critical times. Dale Jr is an idiot if he takes Tony Jr with him.

Don't know if he's a poor crew chief or not. He's in the same boat as Jr. Now that they're going to have top notch equipment and personel, we'll find out for sure if it really was "the cars" at DEI that sucked and not them. We'll find out soon enough though.

[Spike]

If 38 was taken, how about 83?? Not a NASCAR fan by any stretch but it would seem like a combo of his # and his dads would have made the most sense...the soap opera on wheels continues.

[NHCharger]

Don't know if he's a poor crew chief or not. He's in the same boat as Jr. Now that they're going to have top notch equipment and personel, we'll find out for sure if it really was "the cars" at DEI that sucked and not them. We'll find out soon enough though.

I think it's a combination of both. Both Jr. and Tony have made some poor decisions that have cost them wins. If Jr. doesn't finish in the top three next year Hendricks will  probably axe Tony. If Jr. doesn't win a cup in the next five years everyone will finally see how overrated he is as a driver.
Hendrick's is the most well funded team in NA$CAR, they have over sixty engineers on the payroll. A well trained chimp could place a Hendrick's car in the top ten on a weekly basis.

[Ponch ®]

If 38 was taken, how about 83?? Not a NASCAR fan by any stretch but it would seem like a combo of his # and his dads would have made the most sense...the soap opera on wheels continues.

The #83 is already taken by the Red Bull car that Brian Vickers drives. It's an interesting point though - you would think that maybe it would have been easier to negotiate with RB to get the number from them, since they don't really have a "history" with it.

I think it's a combination of both. Both Jr. and Tony have made some poor decisions that have cost them wins. If Jr. doesn't finish in the top three next year Hendricks will  probably axe Tony. 

and I think that's where it gets interesting. As I said in my previous post...how would Jr. react to that? They say you should never mix family and work. I bet you that Tony Eury was NOT Hendrick's first choice to be Jr.'s crew chief. Hell, he probably wasn't even in the top 5...but Jr. probably went to bat for him. I think part of the problem is that Jr. suffers (to a much, much lesser and more benign extent, of course) of the same syndrome like Mike Vick and Pacman Jones  - they surround themselves with certain characters who are not necessarily good for them just because they grew up together and are their "boys". We're not gonna see Jr. shooting up a strip club or running a dogfighting ring because of Tony Eury anytime soon....but we might see him run poorly.

[Chargen69]

But on a serious note...is it a good idea for Jr. to bring Tony Eury along with him to HMS? Hard to tell how good of a crew chief he is, since he can only do so much with the engines/chassis/crews he's had at DEI (just like Jr). Maybe they will be very successful...but so much for a fresh start for Jr. And what happens if he does suck and Hendrick decides he needs to go...how will Jr. react?

I know theres family loyalty involved...but I would think that Jr. would be better off with one of the people that already work for Hendrick.

it wasnt but a few years ago that the jr. and jr. team won like six races in one year, pretty much ruling until they started fighting against each other and decided to split.