My head is spinning about this whole DEI-Ginn merger. It's not that i don't see the merits of it...truly, I do. however, if you look at the problems that are rising out of the ashes that was once Ginn racing, you have to wonder if there won't be a spike in the stock prices of Excedrin by the end of the week.

The Pros:

TEI is getting Mark Martin, a 7 post shaker, and the 15 in the top 35 for the first time since Michael Waltrip left the ride in 2005.

The Cons:

Three drivers that had jobs one week ago are now basically unemployed, including Regan Smith, who was shown the bed of roses of getting his own full time ride in the 14 only to actually lay down on the thorns when that car was folded into the 15 team.

The 21 team, which won't officially get into the top 35 until next week when the 13 falls out of the top 35 due to not running this week, has a driver issue. the Wood brothers brought Bill Elliott into the mix to get the car into the top 35...once he did that, he was allegedly going to be sent back to pasture and Kenny Schrader was going to be allowed to get back into the car. Kenny asked the Woods last week if there was a chance he might get in the seat anytime soon and was told no, so he made a deal with his old team, BAM racing, to get back behind the wheel of the 49 car to help them out. Now, one week into that deal, he has the probable chance to get his own seat back. So now what? Is Bill trapped in the car when he really wants to go back to the relaxing life of a very part time driver? Can Kenny get out of the deal he made with Beth Anne?

The Garagemahal, which just 7 years ago was the darling of all NASCAR garages, will soon be an empty relic. What to do with the showplace that Dale Earnhardt himself designed and built once the four DEI teams take up residence in the 180,000 sqft Ginn garage. Turn it into a museum? Sell it to someone else? Mothball it?

So many questions created by a mid-season merger between a team slowly losing it's place in the higher eschelon of the sport and a team owned by a fan who thought he could manage a race team. Only time will tell if this is the shot in the arm DEI needed to get back on it's feet....or if this will just be another notch in it's casket.

One thing looks for sure...it looks like DEI is now off the list of places Kyle Bush is going to go...because now there is no room at the inn with both Mark Martin and Aric Almarola on hand to fill slots that are open in 2008...even if Mark only continues with his part time schedule, I can't see Almirola going part time all of next year too. He left JGR because the opportunity was there for him to move up at Ginn. The search for the next driver of the 8 car might have been solved with the signature on the paperwork today.