While Dale Earnhardt Jr. was choreographing his move to Hendrick Motorsports, his marketing team at JR Motorsports has been working on an apparel deal with adidas that could put his own line of ClimaCool wear in major sporting goods retailers, a place where NASCAR has had no presence.

Earnhardt announced last week that he's going to drive for Hendrick Motorsports in 2008, giving that team a powerhouse stable that also includes Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. But Earnhardt's own endorsement muscle is again evident in the deal with adidas, which is believed to be a separate agreement from Earnhardt's new relationship at Hendrick. It's uncertain if the adidas relationship might blossom into a team sponsorship deal.

NASCAR-related apparel and merchandise essentially has been nonexistent in the top sporting goods chains and adidas' relationships in that space could provide a significant distribution push for Earnhardt's apparel.

"This is a very interesting strategy," said Neil Schwartz, an analyst for SportSCAN Info, a West Palm Beach, Fla., firm that tracks the sporting goods industry. "There is a lot of NASCAR merchandise sold, but a lot of it is online, and the at-track business is monumental. What you haven't seen is a lot of lifestyle apparel, jerseys [and] golf shirts."

Mark Dyer, NASCAR's vice president of licensing and consumer products, called apparel "the least-developed part of the sport." Although Dyer didn't talk specifically about the adidas deal, he said any development in that area "could pave the way for major athletic apparel companies to take a meaningful position in the sport."

Starter, a Nike brand, entered NASCAR earlier this year with a team deal at Joe Gibbs Racing, and it also had Motorsports Authentics develop a line of merchandise for trackside sales and other distribution. Starter has negotiated through the spring with other teams, as well as NASCAR's licensing office, and more team deals are expected by the end of the year. Reebok also has talked to NASCAR about footwear and apparel deals.

Earnhardt, though, was looking to go in a different direction. Sources say he was more interested in the "lifestyle" approach that adidas offered through its ClimaCool brand, which could include Dale Jr. jerseys, performance T-shirts or other mainstream sportswear, as well as footwear. No launch date for any lifestyle line could be determined.

adidas' power at big retailers such as Foot Locker and The Sports Authority should push Dale Jr. apparel into the sports specialty channel, but a lifestyle play also might be considered a disconnect with adidas' significant positioning as a performance brand, with on-court apparel rights.

The association with Earnhardt's "everyman" reputation does, however, give Germany-based adidas more of a red, white and blue feel. Earnhardt currently counts Wrangler jeans among his sponsors.

"He's about as American as you can get, and that probably transfers to any foreign brand that took Junior on," said Frank Vuono, a principal at 16W Marketing, Rutherford, N.J., and the former head of the NFL's consumer products business.

Meanwhile, team owner Rick Hendrick offered no sponsorship news last week on Earnhardt's new ride. Although Budweiser has made it clear that it's interested in continuing its relationship with Earnhardt, other sponsor conflicts must be navigated. Kellogg's and Carquest have a contract to be co-primary sponsors on Hendrick's No. 5 car -- the one that will be vacated by Kyle Busch to make room for Earnhardt -- through 2009.

"I thought it was a brilliant move on Hendrick's part to make the announcement with no sponsor," said Mark Coughlin, executive vice president of Octagon Racing. "What he's basically saying is that he's confident in the powerhouse he's built that he'll find a corporation to step up and pay a premium price."

Budweiser and Hendrick have a history -- Bud sponsored the No. 25 car from 1995 to 1999. Marketing analysts anticipate Bud will find its way onto Earnhardt's car.

"I can't think of any reason it wouldn't happen," said Steve Lauletta, president of The Radiate Group.