Point-Spreads.com has learned Dale Earnhardt Jr. of DEI Racing will announce he will drive for Hendrick Motorsports in 2008. At Hendrick Motorsports, Earnhardt will join current rivals Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Casey Mears. Earnhardt will replace Kyle Busch, currently the driver of the No.5 Chevrolet on the Hendrick team’s Nextel Cup roster.
After struggling the past two years driving for DEI, Earnhardt Jr. announced in May he was leaving the team owned by Dale Earnhardt Sr’s widow Theresa Earnhardt at the end of this season. Earnhardt Jr. has indicated he didn’t think he had a good chance to win consistently at DEI. Currently Earnhardt is a 30/1 odds long shot to win the Nextel Cup Points Championship.
Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon is a solid favorite to win the Nextel Cup at 5/2 odds and teammate Jimmie Johnson has a 9/2 chance of winning the points championship according to sportsbook.com. Busch, who will be leaving the Hendrick team, has a 15/1 odds chance of winning the cup. Busch at age 22 has four track wins including a win at Bristol this year.
“At 32 years of age, it is time for me to compete on a consistent basis and contend for championships now, “ Earnhardt said back on May 10th the day he announced his planned end of season departure from DEI. “We’ll see what opportunities I have, we’ll see who wants to hire me, who is interested for me to drive their race cars, and we’ll decide from there.”
Earnhardt Jr., winless in 2007, has driven the No. 8 Chevrolet owned by DEI in all 269 of h is career starts and said he wanted to remain with Chevrolet which he will do with the Hendrick team. All four of the cars owned by Rick Hendrick have won races this year.
