NASCAR Jack: Dodge Avenger 500

NASCAR: Dodge Avenger 500 Breakdown

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (15-1) has announced he will leave Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) at the end of the season.

This is probably shocking news for many in NASCAR Nation, but the lug nuts fell off back in December when some things were said publicly by both Junior and DEI's owner, Theresa Earnhardt. Theresa is the widow of Dale Sr., who died in the 2001 Daytona 500. Even after six years you can feel his presence throughout the garage every day.

It was surely meant that his children and wife would share DEI but those details have to be spelled out specifically in any person???‚¬?„?s will. Dale Jr. wanted 51 per cent ownership of the company so he could take it in the direction he thought it should go. His agent, Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, also his sister, has been trying to work a deal to arrange that but no agreement was made .

So Dale Jr. is going to be what is known in other sports as a free agent.

Before anyone puts the Wicked Stepmother label on Theresa, she had the right not to agree to Jr. having a majority share. She is a businesswoman in her own right and now will get a chance to prove it. Whether she can do it with the loss of NASCAR???‚¬?„?s Favorite Driver of the Year four years in a row is a huge challenge.

Her response was: "While we are very disappointed that Dale Jr. has chosen to leave the family business, we remain excited about our company's future."

I think the excitement will change to excrement but we'll see .

Always the straight shooter, Dale Jr. explained his reason ing for leaving this way: "Only time will tell, but there can only be one boss, and it appeared just from the outside looking in that it would be difficult to get through Teresa not being the boss. I'm not saying that's wrong. It would be hard for her just to say, 'OK, here's the company.'"

This news will create a buzz that'll overshadow other big news stories such as the Car of Tomorrow (COT) and the early success of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson .

There are so many unknowns. What will Budweiser do? Follow Jr. of course. He???‚¬?„?s by far the highest profile in the sport. But will they be able to work a deal with DEI to take the No. 8 with him? What about teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Paul Menard ? What about the crew chief for Jr., Tony Eury Jr.? (They ran out of names a few years ago in North Carolina.)

Dale Jr. wants to win. Desperately. His last win was over a year ago at Richmond and he had only one win in the 2005 season. He feels that what is being done in the garage is the reason for his lack of success which is why he wanted to be able to control that himself.

"At 32 years of age, the same age as my father was when he made his final and most important career decision, it is the time for me to compete on a consistent basis and contend for championships," Earnhardt said. "What team I'll drive for next season, I don't know. We'll see who wants to hire me, who is interested in having me drive their racecars, and we'll decide from here. That is an announcement, obviously, for a later date."

Where will he go? He wants to be with a team that drives Chevys. One strong possibility is joining Richard Childress Racing. A former partner of Dale Sr. Childress owns the No. 3 car and Junior has said he wants to ride that horse one day.

"I have a great relationship with Richard [Childress], I feel like he has really stepped up his program but I've got to do some soul searching on how I feel about driving the No. 3 car," Earnhardt Jr. said. "With respect to my father, I don't feel very comfortable with that, he built that number ... but I never say never."

Spare Parts

In the past two years Kasey Kahne (30-1) won the Budweiser Pole and Greg Biffle (15-1) won the race. Both have been practically invisible this year, however Biffle qualified second for this event.

Biffle???‚¬?„?s finishing average at Darlington is 10.0. Kahne???‚¬?„?s is 10.5.

Jimmie Johnson (4-1) won both races in 2004, starting from fourth and 11th. He has a 7.2 finish average at this 1.37-mile oval.

Jeff Gordon (4-1) likes the cooking here. He is the active driver with the most wins ???‚¬??? six ???‚¬??? won in ???‚¬?„?95, 96???‚¬?„? (twice), ???‚¬?„?97, ???‚¬?„?98 and in ???‚¬?„?02. His finishing average at Darlington is 12.2.

Jeff Burton (15-1) won both races in 1999. His Darlington finishing average is 11.6.

Ford won the last two races and then again ten races ago in March 2001.

Tony Stewart (7-1) is 0 for 14 at Darlington. He starts 26th, a spot that has produced zero winners. His finishing average is almost the same as Jeff Gordon???‚¬?„?s at 12.4.

There have been 103 races at Darlington and Chevrolet has won 36 of them.

Nineteen races have been won from the pole, 16 from outside the pole, 13 from start position three, 11 from position five and eight from position four. Clint Bowyer (25-1) won the pole for this race but Dale Jarrett was the last to win from the pole in March of ???‚¬?„?97.

Sixty-seven races have been won from the top 5 (65 percent) and 90 races from the top 10 (87 percent).

JJ will win for the second weekend in a row but Moms are the winners every day.

Matchups (as provided by VegasInsider.com)

Jeff Burton EVEN vs Greg Biffle -120.

Biffle loves this track too much. Both have a high finish average but we have a feeling Biffle will win this matchup.

Jeff Gordon EVEN vs Jimmie Johnson ???‚¬??? 120.

Yikes. I feel like the way I do when I walk into freezing cold water up to my waist. The guys hide in my chest. Pick JJ.

Ricky Rudd +105 vs Juan Pablo Montoya ???‚¬??? 125.

JP hasn???‚¬?„?t lived up to my expectations. Ricky has always been a favorite of mine but one more time I am going with Montoya. Hell, I have to be right sometime.

Clint Bowyer +105 vs Carl Edwards -125.

Bowyer has the pole so he gets the nod considering the success rate of pole-sitters in this race.

Last week, 2-2: season 24-16.

Source: [url=http://www.covers.com/articles/articles.aspx?theArt=138756]Covers[/url]