IndyStar.com Sports Auto Racing NASCAR
July 27, 2007
A real pressure situation for Hendrick Motorsports
Hendrick team lands Earnhardt, but it better be able to win with him next season
Now that Hendrick Motorsports has Dale Earnhardt Jr., the question becomes: What will it do with him?
The marriage of NASCAR's most successful team with its most popular driver, announced June 13 after Earnhardt spent a month as perhaps the most sought after free agent in the sport's history, won't begin until the 2008 season opens with the Daytona 500 in February.
But the principals already are feeling the pressure and it's only going to grow as Earnhardt prepares to join two drivers who have won championships, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, in a four-car juggernaut that also includes Casey Mears. Kyle Busch will be eased out to make room.
With Earnhardt, 32, citing his desire to win a championship as his main reason for leaving Dale Earnhardt Inc., the company his late father started, the onus is on team owner Rick Hendrick to deliver.
"I'm sure in this situation, if he's not winning, it's going to be my fault," Hendrick said the day his five-year agreement with Earnhardt was announced. "If he's winning, it's going to be because of his talent. If he's not, it's going to be because of not giving him good stuff.
"That's the way a lot of fans look at it. So that pressure is there. That's the competitive side of me that I want to deliver what we said we could deliver and what he's expecting."
On Sunday, Gordon will try to win for the fifth time at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a track where Earnhardt's sixth-place finish last year was his first above 10th in seven tries. Gordon calls the addition of Earnhardt "mostly positive," which leaves some room for doubt.
"The negative is all the pressure that's going to come from the outside -- from media, from fans, from sponsors," he said. "Here you have the biggest star in our sport as a free agent and we land the deal. Now we've got to live up to all that.
"It's going to be a whole new team in a lot of ways. Junior is a pretty easygoing guy and a great race car driver. But who knows how long it's going to take for everything to mesh. As much as I've talked to Junior, I've still never sat down with him in a team meeting."
For Earnhardt, who is clinging to the final spot in the 12-man Chase for the Nextel Cup, the pressure was highest while he was in limbo making the decisions that would shape the rest of his career.
Now that his future, which won't include Budweiser as his sponsor and likely won't be in a car carrying his trademark No. 8, is set, the immediate challenge is to stay loyal to DEI and concentrate on the task at hand. It's not always easy.
"It means something personally to me to continue to run good the rest of this year," Earnhardt said. "But you look around and see the Hendrick bunch and your mind wonders what it is going to be like working with those guys, getting to know those guys.
"It's just a good feeling knowing there are a lot of great things around the corner."
Terms of Earnhardt's deal were not released. According to Sports Illustrated, his current contract is worth $7.1 million in salary and winnings. Even with the loss of Budweiser, recent marketing deals with Sony and Adidas should move him well past his current $20 million in endorsements.
Eddie Gossage, president of Texas Motor Speedway, predicted Earnhardt will make as much as $40 million next year. Such lofty numbers are common in other pro sports but rare in auto racing, which Gossage said bodes well for other drivers but not necessarily for team owners trying to keep a lid on costs.
"Junior basically threw himself on the open market and said, 'Make me an offer,' " Gossage said. "How much do you think Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart or Jimmie Johnson could make on their next contract? This will pull everybody up."
Stewart is in the process of negotiating an extension at Joe Gibbs Racing and Gordon, who has an ownership stake in Hendrick Motorsports, has said many times he will end his career where it started. Johnson calls the Hendrick organization "a place where people really can spread their wings."
NASCAR president Mike Helton said he regards Earnhardt's situation as an exception and not the start of a trend. This case got so much attention, he said, because of the popularity of the driver and the protracted nature of the discussions.
"This isn't the first time we've had a driver go someplace else," he said. "The difference here was him first deciding whether to stay at DEI, then working on it one step at a time up to a very high-profile moment."
One thing is certain. If the spotlight was bright on Earnhardt going to Hendrick Motorsports, that's nothing compared to what it's going to be like next season when he finally gets there.
July 27, 2007
A real pressure situation for Hendrick Motorsports
Hendrick team lands Earnhardt, but it better be able to win with him next season
Now that Hendrick Motorsports has Dale Earnhardt Jr., the question becomes: What will it do with him?
The marriage of NASCAR's most successful team with its most popular driver, announced June 13 after Earnhardt spent a month as perhaps the most sought after free agent in the sport's history, won't begin until the 2008 season opens with the Daytona 500 in February.
But the principals already are feeling the pressure and it's only going to grow as Earnhardt prepares to join two drivers who have won championships, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, in a four-car juggernaut that also includes Casey Mears. Kyle Busch will be eased out to make room.
With Earnhardt, 32, citing his desire to win a championship as his main reason for leaving Dale Earnhardt Inc., the company his late father started, the onus is on team owner Rick Hendrick to deliver.
"I'm sure in this situation, if he's not winning, it's going to be my fault," Hendrick said the day his five-year agreement with Earnhardt was announced. "If he's winning, it's going to be because of his talent. If he's not, it's going to be because of not giving him good stuff.
"That's the way a lot of fans look at it. So that pressure is there. That's the competitive side of me that I want to deliver what we said we could deliver and what he's expecting."
On Sunday, Gordon will try to win for the fifth time at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a track where Earnhardt's sixth-place finish last year was his first above 10th in seven tries. Gordon calls the addition of Earnhardt "mostly positive," which leaves some room for doubt.
"The negative is all the pressure that's going to come from the outside -- from media, from fans, from sponsors," he said. "Here you have the biggest star in our sport as a free agent and we land the deal. Now we've got to live up to all that.
"It's going to be a whole new team in a lot of ways. Junior is a pretty easygoing guy and a great race car driver. But who knows how long it's going to take for everything to mesh. As much as I've talked to Junior, I've still never sat down with him in a team meeting."
For Earnhardt, who is clinging to the final spot in the 12-man Chase for the Nextel Cup, the pressure was highest while he was in limbo making the decisions that would shape the rest of his career.
Now that his future, which won't include Budweiser as his sponsor and likely won't be in a car carrying his trademark No. 8, is set, the immediate challenge is to stay loyal to DEI and concentrate on the task at hand. It's not always easy.
"It means something personally to me to continue to run good the rest of this year," Earnhardt said. "But you look around and see the Hendrick bunch and your mind wonders what it is going to be like working with those guys, getting to know those guys.
"It's just a good feeling knowing there are a lot of great things around the corner."
Terms of Earnhardt's deal were not released. According to Sports Illustrated, his current contract is worth $7.1 million in salary and winnings. Even with the loss of Budweiser, recent marketing deals with Sony and Adidas should move him well past his current $20 million in endorsements.
Eddie Gossage, president of Texas Motor Speedway, predicted Earnhardt will make as much as $40 million next year. Such lofty numbers are common in other pro sports but rare in auto racing, which Gossage said bodes well for other drivers but not necessarily for team owners trying to keep a lid on costs.
"Junior basically threw himself on the open market and said, 'Make me an offer,' " Gossage said. "How much do you think Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart or Jimmie Johnson could make on their next contract? This will pull everybody up."
Stewart is in the process of negotiating an extension at Joe Gibbs Racing and Gordon, who has an ownership stake in Hendrick Motorsports, has said many times he will end his career where it started. Johnson calls the Hendrick organization "a place where people really can spread their wings."
NASCAR president Mike Helton said he regards Earnhardt's situation as an exception and not the start of a trend. This case got so much attention, he said, because of the popularity of the driver and the protracted nature of the discussions.
"This isn't the first time we've had a driver go someplace else," he said. "The difference here was him first deciding whether to stay at DEI, then working on it one step at a time up to a very high-profile moment."
One thing is certain. If the spotlight was bright on Earnhardt going to Hendrick Motorsports, that's nothing compared to what it's going to be like next season when he finally gets there.