Paul Menard will leave Dale Earnhardt Inc. after this season and move to Yates Racing along with his sponsor, the Associated Press reports.

Menard is 28th in the driver standings but this will carry some weight because some will see it as a sign of further decay at DEI (starting with Dale Jr.'s departure last year). The organization has Martin Truex Jr., who signed a one-year contract extension in August that takes him through next season, along with Aric Almirola and Regan Smith. Truex has sponsorship for next year, while questions persist about if the U.S. Army will leave DEI (and Almirola) and Smith's team has relied on a patchwork of sponsors to get through the season.

With the economy the way it is, one has to wonder how this might slow companies from pursuing multi-million dolllar sponsorships or if it will cause them to reduce their investment in the sport. Thus, Menard and his father's company as sponsor, is a lift for Yates Racing, which also has relied on a patchwork of sponsors for Travis Kvapil and David Gilliland. Despite the sponsorship situation, which led some to wonder how long this team would last, it's around and while it might not be flourishing certainly deserves credit for lasting this long. That said, there's a lot of work ahead to turn this team into one that can reguarly compete for wins. Kvapil is 24th in the driver standings and Gilliland is 26th. They've combined for five top-10 finishes this season.

So, the question is what does this do to DEI? The challenge is sponsorship. If they can find it, this move won't hurt as much. If they can't find it, the question becomes how many teams can the organization afford to run? Maybe it can start the season with three teams next year. But Chip Ganassi Racing tried that this year with Dario Franchitti's team and shut it down after not finding a fulltime major sponsor. Then again, DEI officials had to know Menard's move was possible so one would expect they have a backup plan. If they didn't, then shame on them.

 Also, Mike Skinner is on the entry list in the 84 car for this weekend's race in Talladega, leading to the thought that AJ Allmendinger is out of the car for the rest of the season. Allmendinger had hinted that Kansas could be his last race with Red Bull Racing and now it looks like that could be the case. Forty-six cars are on the entry list for 43 spots.

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