Dale Earnhardt Jr - His 2008 Sponsor and Car Number - And where did Budweiser go?

by Bruce Simmons

2008 88 Car

The most fan and industry coveted announcement occurred on Wednesday, September 19th, 2007 in regards to Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s new sponsor and car number from the Dallas, Texas Convention Center.

Basically, Dale Earnhardt Jr will be driving the Hendrick Motorsports 88 car, sponsored by Mountain Dew Amp Energy Drink AND The National Guard.  The sponsor duties will be shared amongst these 2 sponsors through the year.

Rick Hendrick noted that during this whole process while we, the press and fans were waiting, he kept doing things to throw us off…  One example is that Rick had his decal shop print up 81 decals and other such little things.  (But no one took the bait on the decal stunt!)  Tricky guy!

See the Hendrick Motorsports site for the announcement, and the home page address is splashed with the new car images!

ADDITIONALLY, as far as Jr’s 2007 Sponsor is concerned, Budweiser, it was announced on Tuesday, the 17th that Kasey Kahne will be driving the #9 Budweiser car for 2008!!

2008 Budweiser 9 Car

See the Evernham website announcement

It was probably one of the most intense, busiest media weeks that NASCAR has seen in quite some time and I think these changes are pretty good mixes of drivers and sponsors.!



Comments:

  1. I hate the "flare" on the number 9 on KK's car. I think it looks stupid.

    I like Jr's National Guard car more than the AMP car. Maybe it should be MORE green and less white...I don't know. The NG car is great.
  2. Too bad O.J. Simpson eclipsed all of this news. I hadn't heard any of this until your blog post, so thank you for that .

    Quote:
    I hate the "flare" on the number 9 on KK's car. I think it looks stupid.
    lol, what a goofy thing to hate.

    Quote:
    I like Jr's National Guard car more than the AMP car. Maybe it should be MORE green and less white...I don't know. The NG car is great.
    That, I agree with. While both of the cars aren't as good as a solid colored car like the current 8, That color of green is ugly.
  3. Quote:
    lol, what a goofy thing to hate.
    LOL, I hate it because it IS goofy.
  4. Quote:
    Originally Posted by mghtx View Post
    I hate the "flare" on the number 9 on KK's car. I think it looks stupid.

    I like Jr's National Guard car more than the AMP car. Maybe it should be MORE green and less white...I don't know. The NG car is great.
    The "flare" as you call it is really a highly stylized E for Evernham. Its part of the number on all his teams.
  5. What happens to the 88 on Ricky Rudd's car ? Or is he in a new ride next season? (It's hard to keep up sometimes).
  6. Quote:
    Originally Posted by jwt873 View Post
    What happens to the 88 on Ricky Rudd's car ? Or is he in a new ride next season? (It's hard to keep up sometimes).
    Well, I know it is hard to keep up with Nascar anymore. Especially because no one wants to watch that Speed Channel thingie , but on that page you linked to, there was a link that said Ricky is retiring after this season. So there ya go. Free car

    Here's the link to that story.
  7. I did a bit of research after making that last post and read that Travis Kvapil was supposed to be joining the Yates organization to ride the 88 Ford...

    I guess Yates made a deal with Hendrick
  8. Quote:
    Originally Posted by jwt873 View Post
    I did a bit of research after making that last post and read that Travis Kvapil was supposed to be joining the Yates organization to ride the 88 Ford...

    I guess Yates made a deal with Hendrick
    Over on David Poole's Blog, Life in the Turn Lane, he noted the following about the numbers:

    [ Kelley Earnhardt Elledge called Yates to ask about the 28 or, if Yates wanted to bring back the 28, maybe getting the 38. Yates said the 28 meant so much to him, because it was Davey Allison’s number and the number Yates started his team with, he’d rather keep that and bring it back himself. (That means you can figure the two cars Doug Yates will own next year will probably be the 28 and the 38.)

    Robert Yates suggested the idea of giving the 88 to Earnhardt Jr.
    That was fine with Earnhardt Jr. and Elledge and Hendrick. The number has a legacy in the sport, with 65 victories. Dale Jarrett is a driver Earnhardt Jr. respects, and he had the most recent success with it. Darrell Waltrip also won 25 races in that number, and DW also won championships driving in the Mountain Dew sponsored car.
    So that all worked out nicely.

    "Robert said ‘two eights are better than one,’" Elledge said. ]

    As far as the 88, even Richard Childress drove the 88 one year!!
    I did a quick modern era recap over on my blog HERE

    Bruce
  9. Great.. Thanks for the info. I'm "In the know" now
  10. The number works, but I'm not a fan of this whole "dual sponsorship" thing they've been doing. It's okay to run a special paint scheme or a different sponsor for one or two races out of the year, but when you've got the car changing paint schemes every week, it can get kind of confusing for the fan. You'd think the sponsors would be against it too, as they don't get as much exposure that way.

    I do have to admit, it can be funny listening to the drivers try to remember everyone they have to thank at the end of the race interviews in situations like that though.
  11. I believe in the curse of the Jack Roush Sponsors. Anytime a sponsor leave Roush Racing to go to another team, they wind up having no success.

    Sure, the National Guard Car won a race this year, but the 25 car has only one four race since 2001.

    The Navy left Roush Racing back in 2003 and never found success with Fitz/Bradshaw Racing. They continue to struggle with JR Motorsports.

    Look at the whole AT&T thing. Had they stayed with the 17 car, they would have never had any problems.

    Don't forget Betty Crocker, too. They used to sponsor the Cheerios car that Johnny Benson used to drive. I don't think they've ever won a race...
  12. Quote:
    Originally Posted by snakester View Post
    The number works, but I'm not a fan of this whole "dual sponsorship" thing they've been doing....
    Snakester: Basically when you see multiple sponsorships, though they've called both of Jr's sponsors his primary sponsors, there's the question of money in the scenario. When you see the Pepsi cars that Jeff Gordon drives, that is basically Dupont selling sponsor time to another sponsor. That saves the primary big bucks, and gives the other sponsor the exposure that these automotive billboards can bring to that company.

    Believe it or not, it can cost around $20 million a year to be a primary sponsor on a successful car and who knows what the secondary sponsors pay.

    Special / different paint schemes were started way back in 1995 when Dale Earnhardt drove the Silver Select Scheme at the Winston at Charlotte Motor Speedway. (Curses to that man, he's ruined my budget when it comes to diecasts!!)
  13. I heard somewhere, that the #88 was previously driven by Ralph Earnhardt. If that's true, then transferring the number to Jr. makes sense.

    At least it's two number 8's, slanted that same way, so the tattooed people can relax a bit. It might be wise to buy stock in Miami Ink, 'cause there will be a whole bunch of folks lining up to add an 8 and color them red.
  14. The car is really busy looking, not as clean as Gordon's or Johnson's. Hopefully Amp will be phased out eventually with Mountain Dew on the hood. The Flat black paint on the back of the car looks hot, I think all the white should be replaced with it.

    I really like Kahne's new car, the only problem is the Avenger's grill reminds me of a K-car or a Plymouth acclaim.
  15. History of the '88' in NASCAR

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    DALLAS (Sept. 19, 2007) - It was announced today that Dale Earnhardt Jr. will drive the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolets in the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, giving him a storied car number for his transition to Hendrick Motorsports.

    Some history behind the No. 88 in NASCAR's top series:

    FAMILY TIES: Ralph Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s grandfather, drove a No. 88 Petty Enterprises "Oldsmobile 88" in the 1957 Virginia 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The elder Earnhardt started ninth and finished 13th in the May 19 Grand National division race won by Buck Baker. Ralph Earnhardt also piloted the No. 188 entries for Petty in seven events that season, posting three top-10 results and six top-15s.

    '88' DEBUTS: On Sept. 11, 1949 at Langhorne (Pa.) Speedway, driver Pepper Cunningham started 15th and drove his No. 88 car, a 1949 Lincoln, to a 33rd-place finish in the Strictly Stock event. Won by Curtis Turner, the race marked the first time a No. 88 was entered in NASCAR competition.

    ALL-STAR ROSTER: The list of drivers who have piloted a No. 88 car in NASCAR Cup-level competition reads like an all-star race roster. Bobby Allison, Donnie Allison, Buck Baker, Buddy Baker, Geoffrey Bodine, Ernie Irvan, Dale Jarrett, Benny Parsons, Jim Paschal, Fireball Roberts, Ricky Rudd, Rusty Wallace, Darrell Waltrip and Joe Weatherly have all taken turns wheeling it.

    65 WINS... AND COUNTING: The No. 88 has been to Victory Lane 65 times since its first race in 1949, ranking it ninth among car numbers on the all-time win list. It is also 10th in all-time starts (1,264) and 12th in all-time pole positions (52).

    WHAT'S IN A NUMBER: Along with its 65 Cup-level wins, the No. 88 has recorded 52 poles, 315 top-five finishes and 526 top-10s. It has led 18,398 laps and logged nearly 350,000 miles.

    PAIR OF 88s: Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s JR Motorsports operation also uses the No. 88 on its Chevrolets in NASCAR Busch Series competition. In fact, the current driver of the No. 88 Busch Series entries, Brad Keselowski, also has family ties to the number. His uncle, Ron Keselowski, ran a No. 88 car on 43 occasions in 1971, 1972 and 1973 combined, recording a best finish of fifth at Michigan International Speedway on June 11, 1972.

    MEDIA CONTACT:
    Jesse Essex, Hendrick Motorsports
  16. Question: Why is this on the front page?
  17. Sirius covers NASCAR, this is a big event in NASCAR history, so I'd imagine that's why it's on the front page. I've seen football and basketball stuff on the front page before.
  18. This Mt. Dew paint scheme is MUCH sharper than Junior's. I think they really missed a good opportunity to design something nice.


  19. Quote:
    Originally Posted by gridironmike View Post
    This Mt. Dew paint scheme is MUCH sharper than Junior's. I think they really missed a good opportunity to design something nice.
    I agree, the scheme could be a little bit more exciting, but they are marketing the AMP energy drink.. Nice online league rendition pic.
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