Dale Jr. is leaving DEI when his contract expires at the end of the season.  This will seriously cripple DEI as a lot of their revenue is tied to Junior. 

It's not that Junior is burning up the track as a driver, but in terms of endorsements and sponsorships, which are key in NASCAR, he's right up there at the top.  If he really wanted to stick it to Theresa Earnhardt, he'd move over to RCR and take the 3 car out of the mothballs.  In NASCAR, the teams own the car numbers. 

Here's another wacky thought: If I'm Joe Gibbs racing, do I consider hiring Junior to drive the 20 car and replace Tony Stewart who is continually putting his foot in his mouth and ticking off sponsors?  How much would Home Depot enjoy having Junior as their spokesperson (although I doubt Gibbs would fire Stewart unless he really screwed up.)  Theoretically, if Earnhardt wanted less attention as a driver, he could venture over to Hendrick Motor Sports and be part of a team with Jimmy Johnson and Jeff Gordon.  The pressure to win would not be on Earnhardt every week and he'd be part of a team that builds great cars.

If Junior and Martin Truex run under the JR racing banner next year (highly unlikely), how will DEI survive with just Paul Menard?  Will other drivers want to go to work for Theresa and if so, who?  Certainly not a name driver, more likely a journeyman like a Joe Nemecheck or maybe a Todd Bodine. 

Stay tuned.  It's going to definitely be worth following.

Lightning Round

• The streaking Milwaukee Brewers have won six in a row and continue to be baseball's feel good story of 2007.  I hope, like the Tigers last year, they can sustain their momentum.  Milwaukee could use a winning team that doesn't play 2½ hours away.
• I was out of pocket yesterday and not able to convey my absolute disguist with the White Sox 7-4 loss Tuesday night to the Minnesota Twins.  There are things you don't do when you are a winning baseball team.  You don't blow a three run lead in the eighth inning.  You don't bring a pitcher in out of the bullpen and immediately have him throw an intentional walk. You don't bring in your long releiver to pitch to the league MVP in the bottom of the tenth when your closer is sitting on his large posterior in the bullpen. 
  Last night was better, a 6-3 win, but they came damn close to shanking a six run lead.  Jim Thome and Toby Hall are going to Charlotte to get ready, but this team is not firing on all cylinders.  Maybe they'll get better, maybe they won't, but the Indians are putting the hammer down early, and to win this division you have to run with the pack.  The Twins are without Lew Ford, Joe Mauer, Rondell White and Johan Satan isn't pitching in this series.  Yet, for most of Tuesday, the Sox were held at bay by a guy named "Boof."
  
• Here's what I don't understand: If the Raiders personnel guy is so bad, why not fire him BEFORE the draft? This is way the Raiders continue to flounder: Lack of organization in their organization.
• Sometimes, hockey bites.
• According to Dennis Dodd, the numbers never lie, unless they are issued by the NCAA.  I do agree with him and his expert completely that the big schools have the resources to deal with the problem and the small schools don't.  That's why I think it's part of a plot to drive the small conferences out of D1.
• Is 500 homers becoming an antiquated milestone?
• There's no lying in baseball.  Not.
• Al Sharpton makes an insensitive remark relating to Mormons and there is very little outrage.  Sharpton claims his remarks were taken out of context, even though the words come out of his mouth on tape.  Al says it ain't no thing.  I am sick and tired of this guy getting a free pass and more sick and tired of the people that enable him to.
• If the White House learned anything during Katrina it was "he who points the finger first wins." 
  
• Law & Order may develop original episodes for TNT of NBC does not renew both Classic and Criminal Intent. Of course, working under a cable budget is not nearly like working under a network budget, so the quality may suffer.  Personally, as big a fan of Classic as I have been over the years, it is starting to show it's age and is being out classed by newer sexier shows like CSI-Insert Location, Criminal Minds, Without a Trace and Cold Case.
• A fight at a Boston Pops Concert?  Perhaps someone didn't have any Grey Poupon.
• Replacing Jimmy Caan on Las Vegas: Tom Selleck.  Can you say "Jump the Shark?"
• Looks like gluten is in for punishment.
• New hot phrase: "He is exciting as watching cheese age."  Also cures insomnia. Don't believe me?  Check it out.
• It's the world's first $600,000 lunch Buffett
• Haven't we learned anything from disasters like "The Rocky & Bullwinkle Movie" and "The Flintstones in Rock Vegas."  Please leave animated people animated.
• Speaking of animated people, here's Maxim's top ten animated hotties. If you plan on getting intimate with any of them, please make sure to cover your inkwell.