DEI: Down to Two Cars in 2009

The bad news for Dale Earnhardt Incorporated continues as driver of the No. 1 Bass Pro Shops Chevy Martin Truex Jr. told the Associated Press that the company he drives for will most likely field only two full-time entries this season.

The news comes as no surprise as the company has struggled to find sponsorship for its No. 8.

The team merged with Ganassi-Racing during the offseason to try and maintain a four- car stable, and rumors swirled that past champion Bobby Labonte would be taking over the No. 8 (or the No. 41).

When Labonte landed with Hall of Fame Racing (now partnered with Yates Racing), he took the rumored sponsor he had with him.

It's been tough for the new Earnhardt-Ganassi Team, which could possibly lose Truex after the 2009 season.

If I recall, Truex's contract (as well as his sponsor Bass Pro Shops) mandates that DEI must field two full-time teammates. With this news, I don't expect Truex to leave prior to the season opener, but with all the struggles (and Truex's contract expiring this year), I wouldn't be surprised to see him jump ship.

Truex told reporters that Earnhardt-Ganassi will field three teams in the season opening Daytona 500.

"Chip and Teresa [Earnhardt] have to do whatever makes financial sense to them, and hopefully for me that means run 36 races," Almirola said. "For them, I hope that's the case because that means that they'll have been able to afford to do that. Now, saying that, I don't know. I'm not privy to look at their financial statements every week or every month, so I don't know what they're going to be willing to do and not do without a sponsor.

"The moral of the story is we need a sponsor badly. We need sponsorship dollars to be able to take our No. 8 Earnhardt-Ganassi with Felix Sabbatta's Chevrolet to every single race that we can. We need sponsorship dollars." (ESPN)

Truex said he knows it'll be tough with only a two-car team but knows the team can still have successful runs.

Earlier this week, it was announced that Max Siegel, who was the vice president of global operations, had left the team as well.

It's a shame to see one of NASCAR's premiere teams falling apart in front of our eyes. It makes you wonder, if Dale Earnhardt Jr. had never left, would this team still be struggling so bad?

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