OFFICIAL - Earnhardt and Ganassi Form New Four-Car Team: Two of motorsports biggest names Earnhardt and Ganassi will launch a four-car team beginning in 2009 through the combination of the motorsports operations of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI) and Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Inc. (CGRFS). NASCAR stars Martin Truex Jr. and Juan Pablo Montoya will drive the #1 and #42 respectively and future star Aric Almirola will be behind the wheel of the #8. The driver of the #41 will be named in the near future. In this ultra-competitive era of NASCAR, it is necessary to build and sustain the strongest team possible and our combining with the people and equipment at Dale Earnhardt Inc. will help create a strong four-car program for years to come, said Chip Ganassi. This is a win-win for both organizations as well as all of our partners.
Having a partner like Chip who is heavily involved on the competition side of the business is an ideal situation for DEI, Teresa Earnhardt said. He has a long history of managing championship teams in the IndyCar and Rolex Grand-Am Series and I share his passion and goals of winning races and ultimately championships in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. I think this is a case where we are stronger together than we are apart. Details of the new four-car operation will be announced at a future date.
Well this should help two struggling teams in the long run. Good move to form a new stronger team. So DEI will now cease to exisit, the new name will be Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing
-- Edited by President Lou Demian at 18:11, 2008-11-12
Do I remember somewhere Dodge was pulling out this year?
This is a good move for both teams......Truex and Montoya could work out to be good teammates. Ganassi knows how to run a team in the other series and is willing to invest money into winning...........Earnhardt still has name recognition and with young talent could pool sponsors.
This probably cinches Jr. ever coming back to buy the team back though........It would be alot stickier now.
More than likely, whenever he leaves Hendricks, he will probably just run/own Jr. Motorsports.....but I could see him driving for Hendricks until he retires.
jr will stay at hendrick for a long time , cause i look for gordon to retire in about 2-3 years! jr motor sports will grow into the cup series in about 3-4 years! but jr will not drive for his own team! its just too hard! I have accepted jr as a teamate , dont want nothing to change other than get rid of steve latarte!
