Is Dale Earnhardt Inc really in trouble?

Earlier this week Dale Earnhardt Inc. driver Paul Menard announced that he would be leaving the company at the end of the 2008 season. Menard will drive for Yates racing in 2009 and will be taking the Menard sponsorship with him. That leaves many people asking, what’s going on over at DEI. They lost Dale Earnhardt Jr, last year, Had a tough time signing Martin Truex Jr. and now they have lost Paul Menard.

Well as we all know the family feud pushed dale Jr. out of DEI. Paul Menard left for whatever reason and Truex is back, but for how long. DEI is in the middle of what I call a perfect storm, all of their driver contracts are up and all their sponsor contracts are up. With the state of the economy, DEI is not the team that is having trouble finding the dollars it takes to run a raceteam. If my numbers are right, there are only 24 cars that are fully funded for the 2009 season and when I last checked there were 43 cars running on the track each weekend.

So if you ask whats going on at DEI you have to ask what going on with other teams. Lets break it down DEI has all 4 of its raceteams in the top 35 in points. They have 2 cars, the 8 and 1 that are running at or near the front every week. Don’t forget Truex had a 150-point deduction for penalties. If not for that we may be talking about Truex being the chase. I bet Chip Gannasi or Michael Waltrip racing would love to be running that well every week.

People are always focusing on the negative. Why is that? Is it Because of their hate for Teresa Earnhardt and the perception that she drove the most popular driver in NASCAR away from the company that his dad built? Whatever the reason people like to say DEI won’t survive and it’s a sinking ship.

Let’s be real here. I’m gonna say it. Who the hell is Paul Menard? The only ting he brings to DEI is money! Lot of money! His dad’s money! Menard is going to run in the same spot he is running at DEI and that’s in the back of the pack. Drivers come and go, maybe Menard leaving is a blessing in because it gives young talented guys like Reagan Smith a chance to show their talent. I know you still need money to run a team and Menard took his with him, but DEI should be able to find sponsorship and maybe people will get off their back.

Don’t get me wrong, I know they have issues at DEI, but they seem to have a lot of good people over there that want to do a good job, so lets hope they can find sponsorship for their teams and they can begin to move forward and win some races.