Car owner Rick Hendrick says that he’s not worried that Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s #88 team does not have sponsorship for 13 races less than a month before the Daytona 500. ‘We’ve talked to a lot of people,’ Hendrick said Tuesday during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Media Tour. ‘I want a long-term deal that fits and isn’t a conflict with the other guys.’ He’s said that they’ve had potential sponsors who have conflicted with sponsors already with Hendrick Motorsports. ‘We will listen to anybody, and we’re always looking, but there’s no like, golly we’ve got to find somebody,’ Hendrick said. National Guard returns and will be Earnhardt’s sponsor for 20 races. PepsiCo’s brands will serve as a primary sponsor for five races, leaving 13 races (36 point races and two non-points races).(Motor Racing Network)(1-29-2014)
UPDATE: Rick Hendrick will wait patiently for the right sponsor to come along for Dale Earnhardt Jr., spending his own money or leveraging other business partners to fill the races for the sport’s most popular driver. Hendrick has routinely said he wouldn’t discount the price for Earnhardt, the son of the NASCAR Hall of Famer and the winner of the most popular driver award in each of the last 11 seasons. He emphasized that the Hendrick Motorsports team has no timetable or deadline to land a new deal. ‘We will listen to anybody and we’re always looking, but there’s no (feeling of), ‘Golly, we’ve got to find somebody,’ because we’ve got two really good sponsors,’ Hendrick said. ‘I’m wanting a long-term deal that fits that isn’t a conflict with the other guys. We don’t put any timetable on it. We have plenty of time.’(Sporting News)(1-30-2014)
