Dale Jr still has contract to sign…but don’t look for him to leave DEI: Though you figure #8-Dale Earnhardt Jr. has better job security than most drivers in the Winston Cup garage, including teammates Steve Park and Pepsi 400 winner Michael Waltrip, Junior’s contract is up for renewal — and he hasn’t signed a deal. Junior says he has been offered a contract and will “make a few changes” before he returns it, which he says should take a couple of weeks. “I’m a little slow about it, but I just want to make sure that it’s cool,” he says. “I’ve thought about driving for other teams, just always wondered what that would be like. But I always drove for my father or in a roundabout way drove for him.” As the most marketable driver in NASCAR, Junior could write his own ticket, but for now he says he feels it is his duty “to stay with DEI and try to become a bigger part of that company.” One carrot DEI is dangling in front of Junior is part-ownership in a Busch Series team with Teresa Earnhardt, his stepmother and CEO of DEI. Junior says he thinks the experience will prepare him to take a more significant managerial role at DEI in the future.(Sporting News)(7-8-2002)
