Earnhardt Jr. to pilot No. 88 car with new shared sponsorship

Dale Earnhardt Jr. reacts upon seeing his new NASCAR cars after they were unveiled in Dallas on Wednesday. (LM Otero photos | Associated Press)

By Dustin Long
The Virginian-Pilot

Audio: Earnhardt discusses the paint scheme of the AMP car.

Audio: Earnhardt talks about heading to Hendrick and No. 88.

By Dustin Long

The Virginian-Pilot

DALLAS

Former champions and famous names fill the roll call of drivers who have raced the No. 88 in NASCAR's history. This catalogue of speed includes Darrell Waltrip, Bobby Allison, Buddy Baker, Joe Weatherly and Ricky Rudd.

The list also features Ralph Earnhardt. And soon it will include his grandson, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Car owner Rick Hendrick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced Wednesday that Hendrick Motorsports' newest member will drive a No. 88 car sponsored by Mountain Dew AMP Energy Drink and National Guard next season.

So ends a four-month guessing game that started when an unshaven and unkempt Earnhardt said that he would leave Dale Earnhardt Inc. - his only home since moving to Cup in 1999 - after this season.

Yet, this could only be the beginning for Earnhardt. His fan base dominates the sport - nearly one-third of all NASCAR merchandise sold features his name, image or number - and could grow larger. No longer saddled by a sponsor that is an alcoholic beverage and limits marketing to teens, Junior Nation could become more crowded and more youthful.

"I think you could see a shift of existing younger NASCAR fans moving to Junior," said Steve Lauletta, president of Chip Ganassi Racing and a former sports marketing executive for Miller Brewing Co.

Car owner Roger Penske said of Earnhardt: "I think he can only be bigger."

Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, Earnhardt's sister and business manager, said young fans now will be able to connect better to her brother because there will be more items available for them to buy.

While teen loyalty can be fickle, the combination of Earnhardt and a Hendrick car could increase his power if he stars winning. Earnhardt remains the sport's most popular driver, although he's in the longest losing streak of his career and missed the Chase for the Nextel Cup for the second time in three years.

"Put some wins and championships on the resume and you'll see how much bigger he gets with this sponsor alignment," said Mark Dyer, president of Motorsports Authentics, a collectibles company that will produce many of Earnhardt's souvenir items.

Future teammate Jeff Gordon has joked that should Earnhardt win a series title, "it's over" as far as souvenir sales for other drivers.

Dawn Hudson, president and CEO of Pepsi-Cola North America, wants that domination. She looks for Earnhardt to raise AMP's profile in a congested energy drink market that features a similar Pepsi product endorsed by Gordon.

While some might perceive energy drinks as only for teenagers or college students cramming for tests, Hudson said the 32-year-old Earnhardt will fit nicely in promoting the energy drink, citing Earnhardt's fan base.

"You don't get 25 percent of the NASCAR fans without having a broad reach," she said.

How the company will market Earnhardt has not been finalized, Hudson said, but he'll be quite visible in commercials, on the Web and in other promotions.

"They're going to spend a lot of money activating and marketing the product and the relations that they have with Dale," Earnhardt Elledge said. "I'd rather them have more marketing dollars to put behind what they do than the sponsorship aspect of it because that's what's really important to connecting to our fans and to the consumers."

That connection includes the car number. Although Earnhardt wanted to take the No. 8 with him to Hendrick Motorsports, car owner Teresa Earnhardt kept it.

That forced Earnhardt to search for a new number. He and Hendrick officials considered any number with an 8 in it. He had raced the No. 81 in the Busch series and that might have been Earnhardt's number, but there's a clothing business called Company 81, and there were concerns about licensing rights.

The No. 28 also was considered. It has not been used this season but is assigned to Robert Yates Racing. Yates wanted to keep it but offered the 88, which is being by Ricky Rudd.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who runs the No. 8 because his grandfather had used that number, didn't realize that Ralph Earnhardt also raced the 88 once - in the 1957 Virginia 500 at Martinsville Speedway for Petty Enterprises.

That made the number more appealing to Earnhardt.

"Numbers have personalities and numbers do talk," he said as he leaned against his green-and-white Mountain Dew AMP Energy car. "Numbers do kind of reach out and grab you."

This one grabbed him. Now, he'll try to grab more of the consumer market.

DALE EARNHARDT JR.’S NEW RIDE

Car No. 88

Sponsors: Mountain Dew AMP energy drink and National Guard; AMP will appear on the car in 20 of 36 races next year with National Guard on the other 16 races.

Contract length: Five years

Team: Hendrick Motorsports

Past drivers of 88: Dale Jarrett, Ricky Rudd, Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip, Buddy Baker, Fireball Roberts, Joe Weatherly and Benny Parsons.

Merchandise: A few apparel items are on sale at www.jrmotorsport.com; www.dalejr.com; www.nascar.com and other such web sites. Those items are expected to be shipped in about a week. Orders for die-cast cars will be taken but they are not expected to be shipped until January 2008.

See Dustin Long's blog, NASCAR Chase, for more coverage.

Associated Press report

More photos

More NASCAR news