There’s a reason Dale Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t run more races outside the Nextel Cup Series. His primary sponsor won’t let him. Discussing the injury risk when drivers take their Cup careers outside the series — as reigning champion Tony Stewart did in the Busch Series last week at Lowe’s Motor Speedway — Earnhardt said Budweiser has the first say. “I got a deal where I can only run X amount [outside Cup] a month,” Earnhardt said as he prepared for Sunday’s Cup race at Dover International Speedway. “They want the consistency for the fans seeing me in a red car. Earnhardt doesn’t like the limitations. He doesn’t think any driver, including Stewart, should be told what to do with free time. Points leader Jimmie Johnson agreed. At the same time, Johnson needs written permission from Hendrick Motorsports and Lowe’s before driving outside of Cup. But injuries such as the one that will force Stewart to turn his car over to relief driver Ricky Rudd early in Sunday’s race makes some think twice about racing outside of Cup. “You just have to think about it,” Kasey Kahne said. “You don’t want to put yourself in a bad position.” (NASCAR.com)(6-3-2006)
