DEI has purchased Ginn Racing with an official announcement expected on Wednesday to unveil the four car lineup which will include Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Martin Truex, Jr., Paul Menard and Mark Martin. The merger was reported by ESPN and is expected to be formalized with an official announcement on Wednesday.
Earnhardt Jr will have a new teammate this weekend.
So now Regan Smith and Aric Almirola are being hung out to dry, at least temporarily. Regan was to drive the 14. But apparently the 14 points are going to Menard to lock him in the show. It now appears that Regan is out of a ride before he ever got to drive it. Tough luck, a smartass Sterling Marlin fan might say. Easy come easy go young gun.
But seriously. I suspect Regan will get the 14 next year at DEI and that Almirola will be sharing the 01 with Martin next year. Of course all of those plans are at least up in the air at this time.
Let Menard earn HIS OWN POINTS!!!!!! He's proven NOTHING except getting in the way of the leaders when he's several laps down!!! WHAT AN F-ING GRAVY TRAINER!!!
"I suspect Regan will get the 14 next year at DEI and that Almirola will be sharing the 01 with Martin next year. Of course all of those plans are at least up in the air at this time."
Unless Mark says he's driving the rest of the races this year, which he hadn't planned to do yet, it should still be Almirola in that car for some races. The AP's article on the purchase says they are still co-drivers in the 01.
I don't see how Regan ends up in the 14 when the 01, 1, and 15 are set for 2008, so all DEI needs is to figure out who is taking Junior's ride, because I'd think he's way down on the list of Junior replacement candidates.
EDIT: "so ginn cashed in his chips? or does he still have 49% say in the team?"
It's too early to say. The AP article says DEI bought everything, including Ginn's race shop, but Ginn will be listed as the owner of the 01 and the 15.
Last edited by JayJayDean on July 25th at 5:51 AM.
Thanks for advising me of this breaking story last night. I'll go with AP on Martin/Almirola.
I would think there would be a commitment to Smith in the agreement with DEI for next year of some type or Ginn has opened himself up to a suit from Regan. Otherwise Ginn's lawyers are going to be real busy. Ginn still owes Nemechek and Marlin on their contracts and he at least made a public verbal committment to Smith for the rest of this year and next year.
Falcons, you've gotta give me props for being scary accurate on my call on how the math was going to go down and how that somebody was going to be standing when the music stopped.
The only thing I missed was I thought the #01 would be Martin/Smith for '07 and Martin/Amirola for '08 instead of immediately.
I was thinking they would agree to merge now with it actually taking place at the end of the year and not leave Regan holding the bag. I have to admit, I never thought about an immediate merger actually taking place.
There is still going to be more. I would think the 14 points will go to the 15 since it has more than the 13. That leaves the 13 points which have immediate value, but no lasting value if not used next week, undecided. Furniture Row buying them may be announced as well.
so what are they going to be called, DEIGR? Nah, too complicated....I'll just call them Deo (which is the name of that panther avatar I've used, lol) :P
NASCAR's not letting Furniture Row buy the 13 points, and they are calling the 13 team "CLOSED". The Wood Brothers 21 is currently 36th in points but they are bumping it into the top-35 to take the vacant spot.
Regan Smith is driving a truck for DEI at IRP, with Ginn Resorts sponsorship, according to jayski. He's not totally screwed yet.
So NASCAR "closed" the 13. They must have been in on the negotiation and put their foot down to some degree to end some of this sillyness.
I would think Ginn would have tried to sell the 13 to Furniture Row. NASCAR must have said no. If so, I expect Furniture Row may sue over that inconsistency. They especially may since Wood Brothers/JTG gets a benefit for nothng. In fact, that makes me wonder, did Wood Brothers/JTG kick something to Ginn?
I agree. I don't see why they wouldn't let that happen. The only thing I can think of is that it is slightly different than the case of the 4 and the 09 in that the 09 never intended to run full-time while the 78 tried to make every race. Maybe NASCAR should have done a sealed bid auction for the teams that weren't in the top-35 for the rights to buy the 13 points.
The fact that DEI actually bought Ginn makes their deal understandable, because it was as much contracting the 15 and 14 to getunder the four-team limit as much as anything in that case. I bet Evernham said something about the 78 buying those points, because he would surely have paid more for them for the 10 car.
I read another comment on a DEI/Ginn merger blog on That'sRacin'.com and the person expressed similar thoughts. It strengthens my opinion that NASCAR is about to write some rules and say enough of this silliness.
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