Since the passing of Dale Earnhardt and the departure of Dale Earnhardt Jr., I have slipped from being a fan of DEI, well, to being a “hater”.  Don’t get me wrong, during the early part of the decade, when Dale’s influence was still being felt, I loved DEI.  They could do no wrong.  Dale had the incredible vision to see how good a little known driver named Michael Waltrip could be and, his son, Jr., was driving Ralph Earnhardt’s old number 8.  And both were strong drivers!  Especially on the restrictor plate tracks.

As we moved further into the decade and farther away from Dale Sr’s death, DEI started to appear like it was falling apart.  DEI went from a team that was able to grab several wins a year to a team that, since 2005, has only had one win per year.  Worse part is they are winless this year.  The last win they nailed was Martin Truex, Jr. in the Spring Dover race, over a year ago.

I, like many, was utterly in shock when Dale Earnhardt. Jr. announced last year that he was leaving DEI and going to Hendrick Motorsports.  Shoot, this was where Jeff Gordon was and as we old school fans remember, he’s the “candy ass” from California.  DEI, namely, Teresa Earnhardt, had refused to give up an ownership stake in DEI, DALE EARNHARDT INC to DALE EARNHARDT JR.  This was absolutely ridiculous to me.  As a father, I can only imagine that Dale Sr. probably thought that one day he’d be doing some type of ownership stake to his children.  The fact that this was being refused was very disheartening.  In my mind, I envisioned Teresa Earnhardt as Cruella de Vil.

Now, I have a funny, somewhat related story to pass along.  Michael Waltrip was addressing the group for Media day this year and told of how he was informed about his leaving DEI: “At Dover in June, Dale Jr. said that I wasn’t a part of that teams long-term plan. Evidently, he didn’t know he wasn’t either.”

So, here we are, DEI has started slipping since the death of Dale Sr., they’ve canned Michael Waltrip and lost Dale Jr.  Teresa looks like the wicked stepmother.  Things can’t get any worse, or can they?

Paul Menard announced that he would be leaving DEI and heading to Yates Racing in 2009.  Now, on the surface, this doesn’t sound horrible but, with Paul Menard goes Menard’s sponsor, oldly enough, “Menards”.  So, we’ve now lost a major sponsor.  But, it’s still not that bad…  Or is it?  US Army has announced that DEI is out.  This leaves only Bass Pro Shops as a major sponsor on Truex’s car.  So, unless sponsorship is found, DEI may be a one-car team next year.

I’m a betting about now, Teresa is wishing she could have a do-over.  Is it better to own 49% of a winning team with the most popular driver in NASCAR at the helm or 100% of a team that is swirling the bowl waiting for the flush to finish? 

And, along those lines, I need a do-over also.  Dale Jr.’s joining Hendrick was a good thing.  He seems fairly happy and he’s running pretty good also.  Plus, as I’ve mentioned before, Kyle’s getting the Hendrick boot to make room for Jr. is one of the things that I bet lit a fire in his belly.  Both of those have made for a fairly good season.