FanHouse Teresa Earnhardt

Tony Stewart announced the winners of his inaugural Stewie Awards Thursday night on a special broadcast of Tony Stewart Live on SIRIUS in the midst of the 2007 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Champions Week.

You know I'd really like to point out a bad choice, or something he missed, but I wasn't able to find an argument with any winners of The Stewies.

Take, for instance, the Dazed and Confused Award bestowed upon Teresa Earnhardt and DEI for letting Dale Earnhardt Jr. Uh ... no argument here.

The Best Original Comedy Award for the year's most entertaining on track "incident" or occurrence was rightfully awarded to Robby Gordon for his "victory celebration" burnout after not winning the Busch Series race at Circuit Gilles Villaneuve in Canada.

The other award winner I wholeheartedly agree with is for Best Vocal Performance. That went to Kevin James for his engine command. Seriously. The best ever. He even edged out Matthew McConaughey in my book.

Congrats to all Stewies winners! A complete list of awards and winners follows.

"I don't want to drive this car anymore for the rest of the year if I don't have to."
~ Dale Earnhardt Jr., over his in-car radio during the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway

My heart stopped when I heard Junior say those words yesterday. It has been my hope, and the hope of all of Junior Nation, since his announcement in May that he would finish the season at DEI in the #8 Budweiser Chevrolet.

As it turns out, that's still Junior's hope, too. When he said he didn't want to drive the car anymore, he actually meant that specific car--the seat makes his back hurt. Phew. Although, at this point I wouldn't have any issues with him jumping ship right now. Even if Hendrick couldn't put him in a car, someone would.

For now, it seems Junior will still finish the 2007 season with DEI. But he won't be a priority. Within just a few hours of missing the Chase, Junior's spotter was reassigned to "help Truex around the garage." It could the first of many changes. A few members of Junior Nation are up in arms about this. To them I must say, "What's the worst that could happen? He already can't get an engine to finish a race."

"We've been a top-five car and a top-five team almost every week and yet we struggled with engines that wouldn't get us to the finish line. I'm really sad for my fans, but especially for my team. If you knew how hard they have all worked this year, and to run as well as we have, it breaks my heart. "

Ours, too. DEI gave him five crappy engines that couldn't go the distance this season. Finishing even one of those races could have made the difference in the race to the Chase.

T.J. Majors, Junior's buddy and spotter for the JRM #88 NAVY team, will replace Hmiel for the last 10 races and I'm sure Junior will smack any additional curve balls out of the park accordingly. But 2008 can't get here fast enough for Junior Nation.

Yes Junior is bummed he isn't getting the #8. Yes he feels for those fans who have tattooed the #8 on their person. But ... he wants everybody to lay off his step-mother, Teresa--the one who made taking the #8 to Hendrick Motorsports impossible:

"I do want to say that I think it's about time we give Teresa a break. She makes the decision on that number because she owns it and as much as I am disappointed and frustrated over the fact that I don't get to keep driving the No. 8, the stuff that I read on the Internet and the stuff that I'm hearing is going on, the remarks about her, directed toward her, I don't think anybody deserves that."

Stuff like "ridiculously spiteful b*tch," and "evil step mom" and remarks like "Teresa Earnhardt should be tarred and feathered. She's acting like an ex-wife rather than a widow."

"If people just take a step back and look, she hasn't done anything intentionally detrimental to me."

Intentional being the key word.

According to David Poole of The Charlotte Observer, Brian France is the most powerful man in NASCAR.

Well, duh. But can you guess the rest of the 43 entry field of NASCAR's Power Elite?

#2 - Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelley Earnhardt Elledge. Decisions made in the near future will determine if this family duo will hold their position this high in the ranks into the future.

#33 - Teresa Earnhardt. For how long? Will her next move take her up or down?

Other items of note:

Jeff Gordon is the next powerful driver at #18.

Rick Hendrick is the most powerful owner--#10 on the list. Would adding Dale Earnhardt Jr. to the HMS stable make him too powerful for NASCAR's liking?

FOX is higher on the list (4th) than ESPN/ABC (8th). This is as it should be.

FOX Commentators Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds more powerful than team owner Ray Evernham. Heh. I couldn't help but chuckle.

What say you?

"If I were Teresa I'd be a little bit concerned. Dale Jr. is the biggest name in the sport."
~ Bobby Hamilton Jr.

As he himself is disappointed that things didn't work out at DEI, Dale Earnhardt Jr. expects the fans to be disappointed.

Indeed we are. But one thing's for sure ... Earnhardt Nation--at least the Junior region--supports his decision and is sticking by the sport's most popular driver.

Comments from the Fanhouse:

We will follow him wherever he should go but man, I am gonna miss that #8!!

Being a Dale Sr. fan for as long as I can remember. I can think of no better way for Jr to honor his Father's memory than to drive the ole' #3 to another championship. But no matter what Dale Jr decides I support him 100%

And tons more like it.

Putting Their Money Where Their Heart Is
NASCAR fans at Infield Parking, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s social networking site, got creative and charitable with their support and started an eight-day campaign to donate to Junior's favorite charities.

With donations ranging from $5 to $50 each, they are claiming just under $700 donated to Victory Junction Gang Camp and The Make-A-Wish Foundation in just over 24 hours. Updates here.

A proud day in Junior Nation. Being a member myself, I can't say I'm surprised by any of this. I have to wonder, though, if Teresa Earnhardt really had any idea what she'd be losing when she let Junior go.

Now if she'd only lose the #8 ...

Today alone, Teresa Earnhardt has been classified everything from an evil stepmother to that name for a female dog for letting Dale Earnhardt Jr. jump ship and set himself as a free agent.

Could this look like the dumbest thing any NASCAR owner has ever done? To many, yes. But I'll be that guy -- I'll play the devil's advocate. Get the skewers hot, folks.

Teresa Earnhardt was right in letting her demands cause Dale Earnhardt Jr. to move away from Dale Earnhardt Inc.

So who in their right mind would let NASCAR's most popular driver just waltz away? Not many, actually. But Teresa Earnhardt did, and it could turn out OK for what many fans will now consider TEI. Here's why Teresa could have made a decent move:

1) Free Ownership? One of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s key demands was that he get 51% ownership of the company that his father built. And that majority ownership was somehow supposed to be free to him and his sister. Could someone really let what many estimated to be $55 million to $75 million just be given away?

Teresa Earnhardt is sole owner of the company, and it's not a charity. After all, Jack Roush didn't just give half of his racing operation to Fenway. It was a business deal, and that's the way it should have gone down at DEI.

Ok... deadbeat owner, as dubbed by Kevin Harvick, might be a little harsh, but I couldn't bring myself to call Teresa Earnhardt the wicked step-witch. She's probably already having a bad day.

DEI's failed negotiations with Dale Earnhardt Jr. could eventually go down in the history books as one of the worst business--and personal--decisions in the history of NASCAR. After all, this isn't TEI we're talking about ... or at least it wasn't until now.

Will the company Dale Earnhardt left behind go on without his son behind the wheel? As DEI's own Max Siegel put it today, only time will tell.

But it doesn't take much time to realize what's been lost:

Personality
Most noticeable in the short run will be the loss of personality--that of the larger-than-life Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR's fan favorite four years running. The very public personality that Teresa Earnhardt called attention to in the Wall Street Journal article late last year in what may have been the beginning of the end of the working relationship between DEI and Earnhardt Jr. the driver.

Sponsors
Money puts cars on the track. Siegel put his cards on the table today:

"We have to figure out a way not to become solely reliant on our sponsorship revenue to survive as a team."

Is that even possible? DEI is going to take a huge hit to their bottom line when they lose the influx of Budweiser money, which I think everyone knows is a reality.

Hard to tell at this early stage how much more money will follow Junior out the door.

Talent

Martin Truex Jr. - He stays put--for now--and has another year on his contract ... with ways to get out if he wants. Do his loyalties lie with mentor Dale Earnhardt Jr., who brought him in, or with the company that's been paying his salary the past few years? Find out more tonight--Truex will be a guest on a special hour-long edition of "NASCAR Now."

Paul Menard - I assume DEI is stuck with him as long as John Menard is willing to keep dumping his money into his son's dream and his girlfriend's (?) team.

By now, just 6 hours after Junior's press conference, I'm sure teams are lining up to negotiate. How many drivers of Junior's caliber do you think are beating down the door at DEI to replace him?

Previously on Fanhouse
NASCAR's Most Popular Driver Is a Free Agent
LIVE BLOG: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Press Conference
It's the End of the World as We Know It

hours and counting.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s announcement of Thursday's press conference at JR Motorsports sparked an entire day of speculation.

First came word that he was in talks with Hendrick, but not about driving for HMS--about HMS providing engines and chassis for two JRM Cup cars. Reports say Junior intends to drive one car himself and poach his DEI teammate, Martin Truex Jr., for the other.

Truex does have a "key man clause" in his contract, doesn't he? Able to get out of his DEI contract if Junior is no longer in the picture?

But Junior said himself Wednesday night that he doesn't want JRM to get much bigger, so maybe he's just announcing his free agency.

Whatever the case, at this early hour, only one thing is obvious to everyone.

It's time for Junior to leave the nest.

Earnhardt Jr. wants to win championships. He's made it abundantly clear that he feels he can't do that at DEI without taking control of the competition side of the company. Teresa Earnhardt has other ideas.

Dale Jr. is building his own team on the side. Teresa is doing some interior decorating.

They're not exactly on the same page. In fact, the son and widow of the late legend are no longer even in the same chapter.

Time to write the next line. Dale Jr. picks up the pen--er, mic--at 11:00AM.

Whatever transpires today I'm sure will convey that Junior is making racing a priority, looking out for #1 and willing to do whatever it takes to be #1.

I have no doubt Dad would be proud.

They're not the cream of the crop, but they have solid footing in the Top 35 heading to Martinsville. They don't have to worry about qualifying, but they need to make adjustments if they want to secure their spot in the Chase. Here are your teams in the middle of the road:

Chip Ganassi / Felix Sabates: Two teams solidly in the Top 35--the #40 in 11th and the #42 in 19th. Their third team, the #41 isn't faring quite as well in 29th, but they're inside for at least one more week.

The CGRFS cars have gained an average of 3.3 positions from the end of last season.

While the teams cars are on the rise, so is one of the team's stars. Juan Pablo Montoya's entry into NASCAR is one of the most talked about stories in all of auto racing--there's the F1 angle, the international angle, the diversity angle and the he'll push anyone and anything out of his way to win angle ...

Ganassi is also off to a good start in the Indy Racing League, which kicked off Saturday and saw the third one-two finish for Ganassi drivers Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon.

$5,551,106 - Size of the Food City 500 purse
160,000 - Bristol Motor Speedway capacity - Sunday's race will be its 50th consecutive sell-out
2,429 - # of laps led by Jeff Gordon, the most of any active driver
2004 - Last time a driver won three consecutive races. That was Jimmie Johnson. Can he do it again?
1992 - Year Food City joined Bristol Motor Speedway as the sponsor of the spring race
621 - # of consecutive starts Mark Martin leading up to Bristol, the longest current streak
477- # of consecutive starts by Jeff Gordon, who will become the active leader in that category after the green flag falls
401 - # of Nextel Cup drivers who have competed at Bristol
266.5 - # of miles in the Food City 500
78 - Percentage of races won from inside the top 10
60 - Most # of starts by any driver (Richard Petty)
56 - Most # of starts by an active driver (Ricky Rudd)
50 - # of cars on the entry list for the 2007 Food City 500
38 - Lowest starting position of winner (Elliott Sadler, 2001)
36 - Degrees of banking in the corners, the steepest on the Cup circuit
26 - # of car owners currently ranked higher in the standings than at the end of last season
21 - # of wins from the pole
20 - Most # of cautions (three times)
18 - # of owners in the current standings locked in to the top 35 through Bristol
12 - # of owners currently outside the top 35 that could move into the top 35
12 - Most # of wins in Thunder Valley by any driver (Darrell Waltrip)
9 - Difference in owner points between 35th and 36th place (Gene Haas #66 (274); Teresa Earnhardt #15 (265))
4 - # of drivers that have completed every lap so far in 2007 (Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin)
1 - # of drivers that have led laps in all races so far this season (Kenseth)
.533 - miles Length of track
Immeassurable - Comfort level of leaving Bristol in the top 35