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.
Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and Ginn Racing are working on a merger agreement that, if finalized, would meld the two NASCAR organizations into a single company, multiple sources close to negotiations told ESPN.com on Monday. The deal is not done, but a decision will be made soon. Both organizations hope, sources said, to firm up outstanding details and announce a partnership immediately. This deal is an elaborate proposition that entails several obstacles, including how best to reduce from six Nextel Cup teams to the maximum four. The obvious answer, sources said, would be to eliminate Ginn's financially-strapped Nos. 13 and 14 teams.
I really don't know what to think about this report. I thought the merger was probably dead. Apparently something has sparked it again since the sources ESPN is using spoke today about the matter. Is there a way to sort out the issues?
Well to start with Sterling Marlin and Joe Nemechek can be let go at the end of the year because their contracts expire. ESPN is also reporting that Aric Almirola has been tabbed to share the 01 ride with Mark Martin next year. Therefore, Martin and Almirola could share the 01 Army car for DEI next year. That leaves Regan Smith who has been promised the 14 by Ginn. Put him in the 8 instead and "Bob's Your Uncle" you've got it. WOW!
“We have inquired about the possibility of acquiring an existing team,” DEI Vice President John Story said Monday.
Story said the move could come as early as this season and the purchase of a team already in the top 35 of car owner points would be used to shore up DEI’s No. 15 team driven by Paul Menard. Menard is 39th in owner points and has failed to qualify for six races this season. Story declined to name the teams with which DEI has talked about the possibility of purchasing, but multiple sources Monday confirmed Ginn Racing’s No. 13 Chevrolet team driven by Joe Nemechek is DEI’s prime target.
I'll put my money on Jim Utter over Lee Spencer. Look for DEI to acquire the 13 from Ginn next week. Immediately Menard will find himself in the 13 and Nemechek in the 15 working for DEI as the driver of their fourth car. Hell, in reality only the names may switch places. The drivers might actually stay in the same shops as merger talks continue.
That will leave Sterling Marlin in the 14 for now. However, that may not last long. Given the discontinuance of Ginn's No. 4 Busch team, Sterling could find himself out of work next week as well if Regan Smith is immediately put in the 14 to gain experience for next year. Experience tells me Bobby Ginn does not mess around. It appears that when he wants something to change, it happens, and it happens sooner rather than later.
I guess the phones didn't ring after the unsponsored cars at New Hampshire. I don't know why Ginn thought they might.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Ginn Racing is not broke. Ginn Racing will be racing all three Cup teams at Chicago Speedway next weekend. Ginn Racing is not selling off the Nos. 13 or 14 for points to other teams. However, Ginn Racing did let go of seven people earlier in the week, is expected to discontinue a full-time effort in the Busch Series after Daytona and is currently revisiting preseason talks of a merger with Dale Earnhardt Inc.Bottom line: Ginn expanded too quickly and it was time to cut the fat. At least Ginn could afford to do that.
Ginn GM Jay Frye has been forthcoming with the media. When the season started he expected to have three fully-funded race teams. That didn't happen. Panasonic didn't come through. Ginn Resorts was the sponsor of record on both the Nos. 13 and 14.Even without outside funding, Sterling Marlin and crew chief Slugger Labbe accomplished what no other team outside the top 35 in 2006 owner points could do — qualify for the first five races. Still, Frye humbly admits he'd be better off with two strong teams rather than three diluted squads.
A Ginn-DEI marriage provides positives for both organizations. Ginn can benefit from DEI sponsor and marketing relations. DEI acquires the long-needed space it's desired along with owner points for Paul Menard from the No. 13. With the newly formed DEI/RCR engine development program, there would be eight cars to pull data from instead of six. RCR is currently putting the pieces together for a fourth team as well. Part of Hendrick Motorsports success stems from the amount of feedback it receives from providing engines for nine teams. DEI/RCR hopes to make similar gains. At the least, DEI could pick up one team from Ginn and continue a satellite partnership in similar fashion to Hendrick and Haas.
NASCAR's top-35 rule protects its strongest organizations. That hasn't been a problem for Ginn — yet. The Car of Tomorrow, that was billed as the great equalizer, has widened the gap between the three tiers of Nextel Cup. Perhaps this was the simple solution to weed out the weaker teams if NASCAR moves to franchising in 2009.
Denver-based Furniture Row Racing, which rents space from Ginn as an East Coast satellite, has been rumored to be running Marlin on a limited schedule next season but would like to use the affable Kenny Wallace to garner new sponsorship for the 78 and move Furniture Row to a second team. Ginn has denied Marlin's owner points would be part of that package.
However, there was pre-season talk of a DEI/Ginn merger, and that story has heated up again. Keep in mind the "four" factor. If NASCAR contracts to 44 franchised teams and 11 owners - DEI/Ginn - on the radar screen. Could be expedited quicker by Ginn merger.
Lee sounds a little confused. She says Ginn is not selling off numbers for owner points. Then she says in a merger with DEI, that company would acquire the owner points from the 13 from Ginn for the 15.
Oh well, it wouldn't be the first time the Sporting News/Fox writer got it wrong. She better hope I don't win the NGS contest. I can write about NASCAR better than her. And that would have to suck for her. 'Cause as all of y'all know, I ain't worth a damn.
Sources indicate that Ginn Racing may already have been removed from Kyle Busch's short list of potential employers for 2008 and beyond. If so, that would be disappointing for Jay Frye, CEO and general manager of Ginn Racing.
"We would certainly be interested in speaking with Kyle, yes," Frye said prior to last Sunday's Citizens Bank 400 at Michigan International Speedway. "All this just happened last week. I think the dust needs to settle, and hopefully within the next couple of weeks we'll be able to get with his group and see where we're at."
Explaining why he would like to add Busch to the Ginn stable of Cup drivers that currently includes part-timers Mark Martin and Regan Smith, and veteran full-timers Joe Nemechek and Sterling Marlin, Frye added: "He's 22 years old and he's already been out here a couple of years. He's one of the best Cup drivers out here today. So he's a phenomenal talent. We think he's a great kid. So the upside is huge. The potential is huge. And when you speak of potential that means what is yet to come and he's really, really good right now."
Of course when someone is available and teams are pursuing him, you hear all kinds of stuff floating around the garage. One of the rumors making the rounds in Michigan was that Ginn Racing already had offered Busch a job. Frye said that wasn't true, although he added that he would like to make it happen.
He said the plan for next year is to again pair Martin with another young driver in one car, while Smith, Martin's part-time partner this year, moves up full time from the Busch Series to the Cup Series. Future plans for Nemechek and Marlin are still being formulated, Frye added, although he did say Marlin wants to cut back to a part-time ride next season as well and the team is still discussing "how it would work, if he could or not, and that's still kind of up in the air."
Most of Frye's recent focus has been on trying to catch Busch's attention -- sort of like the young up-and-coming sophomore at the high-school prom trying to land at least one dance with the most popular senior, where he can pitch the seemingly outrageous idea of beginning a long-term romance.
"There is no truth to the rumor that we've offered him a job. We certainly want to offer him one, yes. We certainly want to talk with them," Frye said of Busch. "We think between him and Regan, if we could match them up as two young 22-, 23-year-old guys that would definitely set the program up for a long time. Mark would be a phenomenal mentor for those two as we go forward. It could be a very exciting prospect."
Frye said Ginn Racing is poised to go to a four-car Cup operation next year whether Busch comes aboard or not.
"We've been preparing for the Busch team, along with Regan, to graduate into the Cup Series," Frye said. "It would just be a Cup team vs. a Busch team. We're already a four-car team. It just happens that one of the teams is a Busch team right now."
Personally I think Kyle wants to go to DEI, run Childress power with sponsorship from Bud and shove it in Hendrick's and Jr.'s faces!
This does not sound good for my man Marlin. If Martin is paired with a young driver it will be Karl Kinser. Then you would have Nemechek and Smith. Signing Busch or any other full time driver would leave Marlin out of a ride. However, realistically speaking, being forced to retire might be best for Marlin.
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