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Will Dale Jr / Kyle Busch Feud Help NASCAR?

Kyle Busch has a right to be upset. After all, he was fired from his job at Hendrick Motorsports to make room for Dale Earnhardt Jr – despite posting extremely impressive performances on the track week in and week out.

Why Rick Hendrick chose to keep Casey Mears over Kyle Busch I still cannot comprehend, especially now that Mears is leaving Hendrick, too.

Dale Earnhardt Jr has a right to be upset, too. Kyle’s aggressive (some say intentional) driving put Junior into the wall late into the race at Richmond – costing Dale Jr a shot at the win in a race he was leading at the time.

Fans of both drivers are taking sides as the rivalry slowly simmers. The fans have a right to be upset too, and are showing their displeasure more than the drivers.

NASCAR has been pretty quiet on the subject of this latest driver’s feud, but they must be enjoying the increased TV ratings and media coverage it is bringing. You know that they love every minute of this Junior VS Rowdy feud.

The real rivalry is between the fans, with each driver’s fans squaring off against the other. I’ve heard from a lot of Dale Jr fans who are cheering on Juan Pablo Montoya after he wrecked Kyle on purpose last week. It’s interesting to see someone with a Dale Jr t-shirt and a JPM hat at the same time.

This rivalry is not all about beating and banging on the racetrack, however. There is real competition behind it. Kyle Busch is leading the Sprint Cup points right now – with Dale Jr a not-too-distant third. This one has the potential for a few more points of contention before it’s over.

What do you say about the Earnhardt / Busch rivalry?

Photo Courtesy Hendrick Motorsports

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Special Camo Paint Scheme for Dale Jr

Dale Earnhardt Jr is driving a special camouflage paint scheme Chevrolet this weekend in Daytona to honor the National Guard. The car was hand painted with 10 coats of DuPont by Corey Souliere (left to right), Ronnie Sipka, Donnie Floyd and Scott Nicholls – all Hendrick Motorsports employees. Here’s the car sitting in the shop at Hendrick Motorsports.

It took the crew 2 days to paint the car.

The paint scheme is a tribute to the men and women of the National Guard and the Defending Freedom program. The paint job is based on an actual ACU – that’s Army Combat Uniform. The car was officially unveiled to soldiers stationed at North Carolina’s Camp Butner by Dale Jr and the 88 team.

Tony Eury Jr, crew chief of the No. 88, was pretty pumped up about the ACU paint scheme. “It’s going to be pretty cool. Most of the time we do a wrap in a situation like that, but these guys have been pretty pumped up about it, and we know how big of a deal the National Guard is for us, so we wanted to come out of the box looking really shiny and nice” said Eury.

“I think it will mean a lot to those guys (the soldiers of the National Guard) for us to spend the extra time detailing out that car to make it look good. There’s not many people who would attempt to paint this so it’s going to be really special.”

Photos courtesy Hendrick Motorsports.

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Dale Earnhardt: Top 10 Reasons it Took me 20 Years to Win The Daytona 500

Straight from The Intimidator:

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Dale Earnhardt Jr’s dogs, cats and buffalo

NASCAR drivers are notorious pet lovers – and Dale Earnhardt Jr is no exception. Junior has at least 8 animals that he calls pets.

Killer the Boxer: There’s Killer, a 70 pound Boxer that loves to ride in the car with Junior. Killer always demands the front seat and wants to go everywhere Dale Jr goes. This dog is the son of Foster, Greg Biffle’s dog. Killer likes to chase cats when he’s not sleeping.

Buddy the cat: Buddy found Dale Jr in a New Hampshire pet store back in 2000. It seems Junior stopped at the mall following the race and left with Buddy in tow. Buddy spent 3 years on the road crew traveling with Junior and the race team. These days Buddy stays home in North Carolina.

Stroker Ace the Great Dane: Stroker is a one year old Great Dane with Champion bloodlines. He’s named after fictional race car driver “Stroker Ace,” who was played by Burt Reynolds in the 1983 movie by the same name. Dale Jr once ran a Busch race at Daytona with Stroker Ace on the car where his name usually goes.

Tux the cat: Tux is a black and white Maine Coon cat that Dale Jr and Sister Kelley discovered in a Mooresville, NC pet shop during a shopping trip to buy tropical fish. Tux is a big cat – 15 pounds – and very playful.

Laverne and Shirley the buffalo: Junior received the pair of buffalo as a gift and named them after the girls on the 70’s TV show Laverne and Shirley. They are somewhat highly strung and territorial, and demand to be fed before the Texas Longhorns they share the property with.

Lindy Lou, Dance ’til Dawn and Shadows Tiger Lily the Longhorns: Dale Jr acquired 3 Texas Longhorns last year. The 3 massive cows, which can tip the scales at 2,000 pounds each, roam the property at Junior’s house alongside the buffalo. The horns on a Longhorn can grow 6 to 9 feet.

You can see photos of Earnhardt’s pets on his website at DaleJr.com.

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Silly Season Update: Mears Out of Hendrick’s No. 5

Hendrick Motorsports put an end to speculation today with an official announcement that Casey Mears will be out of the No. 5 Sprint Cup series car at the end of the 2008 season.

“We’ve put a ton of emphasis on the No. 5 program, it’s been a total team effort, and Casey has worked as hard as anyone to help us improve. We’ve tested more than we ever have, but the results just haven’t come,” Rick Hendrick said in the official statement from Hendrick Motorsports.

“None of us, Casey included, have been satisfied with the situation this season. But he’s confident there are other options out there for him in 2009, and we feel like Hendrick Motorsports will have some opportunities, too,” Hendrick continued, in what could be the understatement of the year.

Opportunities are definitely abundant for Hendrick right now – Tony Stewart has made it painfully clear he’s ready to get back into a Chevrolet, and Ryan Newman has put himself on the market in search of a championship caliber ride.

Then there’s Mark Martin, who looks to be leaving DEI at the end of the year. Martin may want to step back into a full time ride and make one more run at a championship – or would he be content to continue to run a partial schedule and help groom Dale Earnhardt Jr protégé Brad Keselowski for a full time ride.

Then there’s Martin Truex Jr, also ready to bolt from DEI – Truex and Earnhardt together at Hendrick would be a powerhouse similar to what Waltrip and Junior were back when they were winning all those restrictor plate races.

One thing’s for sure – whatever happens will be interesting to watch.

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