Dale Earnhardt Jr. signs contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports through 2017

dpkimmel2001

dpkimmel2001

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Like money in the bank!

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Hendrick Motorsports have agreed to a five-year contract extension that will keep the sport’s most popular driver with the organization through 2017.

Full story here.
 
You mean

LIKE MONEY IN THE BANK!!!!:owquitit::beerbang:JR:D:owquitit:HENDRICK:owquitit::D:beerbang:
 
Hooray for Jr! Now he can continue his streak of mediocrity without fear of losing his ride:rolleyes:
 
VaDirt said:
Hooray for Jr! Now he can continue his streak of mediocrity without fear of losing his ride:rolleyes:
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,,,and at his current rate of pay (reportedly $30 mil per year) he will pocket a cool $180 million over the next 6 years just for driving the 88! Nice work if you can get it!
 
Stewart Fan said:
Well, now he needs to focus on running up front.
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You are right - BUT... In order to run up front he needs to FOCUS on his CUP career and give up JR Motorsports, Whiskey River, all of his commercial endorsements and distractions. Until he does that, he will never be a consistent winner in CUP, IMO.
 
robbybee said:
,,,and at his current rate of pay (reportedly $30 mil per year) he will pocket a cool $180 million over the next 6 years just for driving the 88! Nice work if you can get it!
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Or just for NOT driving the #88...ever which way you look at it! lol
 
Winning is really a side story in Jr's case. He doesn't get paid to win races. He gets paid to sell merchandise and sell tickets which are two things he does very well.

Of course he wants to win, everybody does. If he does win, that is simply a bonus for Hendrick. Winning would make him even more popular than he already is. However, it certainly seems that if Rick Hendrick's primary goal here was to win races he could have found a much better driver for a lot less money. But, this is a very big business and noone runs this business any better than Rick Hendrick.

I think this is a great move by both sides.
 
Jrs 18 Cup Wins & Dads... Make him a steal at 30 Mil a year!!:beerbang::beerbang::beerbang:
 
I have been a Junior fan for a while, but have since become a real fair weather fan of his. I don't think he will ever be what everyone including me had thought he was going to be. Hendrick obviously see's something, but I would punt Junior to the curb in favor of getting another up and coming talent like Trevor Bayne, Stenhouse, or Regan Smith.
 
Benevolent One said:
Winning is really a side story in Jr's case. He doesn't get paid to win races. He gets paid to sell merchandise and sell tickets which are two things he does very well.

Of course he wants to win, everybody does. If he does win, that is simply a bonus for Hendrick. Winning would make him even more popular than he already is. However, it certainly seems that if Rick Hendrick's primary goal here was to win races he could have found a much better driver for a lot less money. But, this is a very big business and noone runs this business any better than Rick Hendrick.

I think this is a great move by both sides.
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This is one of the best posts I have read! Couldn't have said it any better!
 
GREAT AMERICAN RACE FAN said:
I have been a Junior fan for a while, but have since become a real fair weather fan of his. I don't think he will ever be what everyone including me had thought he was going to be. Hendrick obviously see's something, but I would punt Junior to the curb in favor of getting another up and coming talent like Trevor Bayne, Stenhouse, or Regan Smith.
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You can only win one championship per year, and Hendrick has that wrapped up. Rick is in it for the cash. If he was about developing up and comers, he would have kept Brad.
 
FenderBumper said:
Rick is in it for the cash. If he was about developing up and comers, he would have kept Brad.
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If we go back a few years we see that Rick signed an unproven up-and-comer who turned out to be nicknamed "Five Time". Several years before that he signed another young up-and-comer who is now a four-time champ referred to as "Big Daddy". And let us not forget the chances he took by signing one of NASCAR'S most intense and controversial drivers, Tim Richmond.

Rick's about a lot more than just the cash, my friend...
 
VaDirt said:
Hooray for Jr! Now he can continue his streak of mediocrity without fear of losing his ride:rolleyes:
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Personaly I think they should have put him on a percentage deal, maybe then he'd get up on the wheel and work for it.
 
robbybee said:
If we go back a few years we see that Rick signed an unproven up-and-comer who turned out to be nicknamed "Five Time". Several years before that he signed another young up-and-comer who is now a four-time champ referred to as "Big Daddy". And let us not forget the chances he took by signing one of NASCAR'S most intense and controversial drivers, Tim Richmond.

Rick's about a lot more than just the cash, my friend...
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Did you ever hear that Richmond brought money to that deal? I've heard that rumor for years but never been able to sustantiate it. Richmonds family had Cash to do it with too!!!
 
robbybee said:
If we go back a few years we see that Rick signed an unproven up-and-comer who turned out to be nicknamed "Five Time". Several years before that he signed another young up-and-comer who is now a four-time champ referred to as "Big Daddy". And let us not forget the chances he took by signing one of NASCAR'S most intense and controversial drivers, Tim Richmond.

Rick's about a lot more than just the cash, my friend...
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I think that you're right on with that statement.

Earnhardt doesn't have to win as the boss already has that. He doesn't have to come across as the family man as Hendrick has that.

All Earnhardt has to do is sell product as it seems as though the more Johnson Wins, the less fans he has and Gordon doesn't appeal to the young, hip, female crowd that he once did.

Basically, Hendrick is one savvy business man. I'm surpised he doesn't go after a minority and cover all the bases.
 
Benevolent One said:
Winning is really a side story in Jr's case. He doesn't get paid to win races. He gets paid to sell merchandise and sell tickets which are two things he does very well.

Of course he wants to win, everybody does. If he does win, that is simply a bonus for Hendrick. Winning would make him even more popular than he already is. However, it certainly seems that if Rick Hendrick's primary goal here was to win races he could have found a much better driver for a lot less money. But, this is a very big business and noone runs this business any better than Rick Hendrick.

I think this is a great move by both sides.
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no different than the danica saga. driving skills are secondary. #1 is selling the nascar brand.
 
FlFlash said:
Did you ever hear that Richmond brought money to that deal? I've heard that rumor for years but never been able to sustantiate it. Richmonds family had Cash to do it with too!!!
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i've heard the rumor also but never seen it verified. could be either way. tim had the talent but would he be given a ride without some sort of family backing? we'll probably never know unless hendrick says something. and i wouldn't believe that grass is green if he said so. <g>
 
In the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary about Tim Richmond, Rick Hendrick said he hired him because he felt that him & Harry Hyde together could do great things & he was right, Tim was an awfully great driver in that car. No one since that has driven #25 has been as good, heck the man drove to victory at Pocono & Riverside in 1987 half dead, who else could've done that. As for Dale Jr, I have to agree with what others have already said, the only logic that makes any sense is that Hnedrick saw all the money & sponsor opps that Jr brings to the table, his race team is already the most valuable team in the NASCAR garage area, he's already got two premier drivers & one of them just happens to be THE driver right now so by a competitive standpoint, Hendrick Motorsports is all good. This means they can let Jr just ride around out there every Sunday so that his fans can see him & Hendricks pockets as well as his own can continue to be lined. Everyone's happy right? WRONG! Us true Jr fans are fed up with him accepting this role of simply being a rolling billboard for corporate America, we want to see some performance out of our driver, how can a driver who once was a threat on any given Sunday, leave one organization for what is clearly a better one (Sorry but Hendrick is & has been the class of GM teams for a long time) & then perform worse than ever, it just makes no sense. I'm sure when Jr told Dale Sr he wanted to drive, the man was happy but did not push his son, he did not expect his son to be able to do all of the things he did behind the wheel but i'm sure that if he were still around, he was probably be infuriated with how things were. Then again, if he were still around, DEI would still exist on it's own & we wouldn't be having this discussion...
 
Restrictor Plate King! said:
Then again, if he were still around, DEI would still exist on it's own & we wouldn't be having this discussion...
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And if Dale had been trying to win that race, instead of blocking for his two DEI cars, he probably would still be around...

But that's an entirely different discussion...
 
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