Now that Dale Earnhardt Jr. has sealed his future for the next five years with Hendrick Motorsports beginning next season, there are other issues on the table. For instance, will he be able to take the #8 with him from Dale Earnnhardt Inc.? Earnhardt said Friday after qualifying at Michigan that there has not yet been any communication with DEI about obtaining the #8. "Obviously, we'll see if there's any interest from [team owner] Teresa [Earnhardt] and [DEI president of global operations] Max [Siegel] to do that, but they've probably got to answer a couple more questions of their own to be able to have a good idea how they feel about that," Earnhardt said. "Whether they feel like they have any interest in talking about it, I'm sure that's something Rick [Hendrick] and my sister [Kelley Earnhardt Elledge] would be interested in doing." Siegel said Friday that he would be willing to discuss a transfer of the number. "We're open to talk about anything," Siegel said. "But in order to consider it, there has to be some formal proposal. No one has contacted me. Other than knowing his desire to have the number, no one has approached me with a formal proposal. I'm not going to talk about it until I get one."(ESPN.com)(6-16-2007)
