Dale Jr. tour 2007
Since announcing he was leaving Dale Earnhardt Inc. at the end of the year, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been touring the shops of a number of teams that are interested in his services.
It has given him a rare chance to see how other teams operate.
"I have never had the opportunity to see any shops outside DEI in my driving career," Earnhardt Jr. said. "That was a big surprise for me. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary or didn't see any golden eggs laying around. But there were basically, you know, I was surprised at how on par in some places DEI really is."
One of the things he noticed was the teams that were most successful were the ones that were branching out and growing. But he also noticed how similar some of the teams in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series are.
"One of the things that did surprise me was when you look at the shops, where the cars are, where the people are, where the pieces are -- the rear ends, the A-frames, trailing arms, the tools, all those things, the stock metal, everything. It's the same, all the way across the board in every shop," Earnhardt Jr. said. "There's no big difference. That was kind of a surprise. I thought some teams would be different, but they're all about the same."
Earnhardt Jr. said he does not want to be in the position to have to visit other teams other than his own. But since deciding to leave DEI, Earnhardt Jr. said he is trying to make it a positive experience.
"We're trying not to comment too much on how things are going or what's going on until we can really have something to say, but I can tell you that things are positive," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I've just been overwhelmed with the personalities that I've met, with the owners and the individuals working at each company. There are certainly a lot of great people out there with good morals and good values and with great attitudes about the sport and about what they want to accomplish. It makes me feel good about where the sport's going to be in the next five to 10 years with some of these individuals I've met."