some comments from a Dale Earnhardt Jr./GM Racing press release: HAS IT BEEN AN EYE-OPENER TO SEE OTHER SHOPS? HAVE YOU GOTTEN ANY MORE CLARITY ABOUT NEXT YEAR? “I have never had the opportunity to see any shops outside DEI in my driving career. That was a big surprise for me. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary or didn’t see any golden eggs laying around. But there were basically, you know, I was surprised at how on par in some places DEI really is. And there’s . I never really felt like me and Tony, Jr. (crew chief Eury) had any trouble competing and being competitive at DEI. The reasons why I left were truly personal and not competition related. But you look at these other teams that win more races and there’s an obvious difference between the two companies or three or four companies. So you look at that and you say, ‘What are we not doing?’ Well, I got a chance to look around these shops and see some of the areas where teams are sort of branching out and growing.” “When I can really get down to business and tell you guys what’s going on, we’ll definitely do that. I’ll be as excited as heck to be able to tell everybody what I’m going to do and where I’m going to be. And I’m looking forward to that. And I think that’s going to happen within the time schedule that my sister has expressed over the last several weeks. It’s looking good.” “As I have said, I want to continue driving Chevrolets. That spells it out pretty good for a lot of people. Chevrolet has been good to me. They have complimented my Busch Series program. They have supported me and complimented me in my career. And just for a couple of extra bucks, I wouldn’t want to go drive for another manufacturer. I don’t have those relationships with those other manufacturers although I am sure there are great people working there.”(GM Racing PR)(6-2-2007)
