Teresa Earnhardt’s plans for Dale Earnhardt Inc. appear rather confused. The Journal last week reported she was talking with investment businessmen about taking a financial stake in the company, as others like Richard Petty and Richard Childress and Michael Waltrip and Ray Evernham have done. How much she might want to sell has been unclear. One unconfirmed report is that she’s willing to sell it all....but then without Dale Earnhardt Jr. DEI is worth only a fraction of what it once was. Forbes analyzes DEI as valued at $109 million. However Regan Smith, the promising rookie who may not have any sponsorship next season at DEI, will apparently soon be sidelined; Mark Martin is leaving DEI at the end of the season to join Rick Hendrick; Martin Truex Jr. is trying to leave DEI at the end of the year, though that legal issue is still up in the air; and Paul Menard’s wealthy father John is reported talking with Ford’s Jack Roush apparently about moving his financial NASCAR stake there, presumably with Paul Menard driving a Roush-Yates Ford in 2009. That only leaves DEI with newcomer Aric Almirola. One report is that Teresa Earnhardt, if she were to bail out of DEI itself, would want to keep merchandising rights to the late Dale Earnhardt.
