Dale Earnhardt Jr has suffered five blown engines throughout the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup season.
After twenty-six races, Dale Earnhardt Jr has five DNF's due to engine failures. And that is not including the power steering failure at Chicagoland that plummeted Earnhardt Jr from a potential top five finish, to a 19th place finish.
These mechanical woes have led to some fans questioning DEI, even insinuating that Earnhardt Jr is being sabotage with defective engines. Is such corruption a possibility? One would like to believe that no organization lacks that much integrity, and that these circumstance are merely coincidental.
I do no believe that Teresa Earnhardt is out to screw over Dale Earnhardt Jr. DEI has more to gain with Dale Earnhardt Jr chasing the championship than having him battle Ryan Newman for the 13th place consolation prize.
Regardless of what you think of Teresa, she would not drag the late Dale Earnhardt's company through the mud by intentionally sabatoging his son's championship hopes.
"We tried hard to get him in the Chase. We wanted him to win a championship. We always said that would have been the most appropriate way for him to leave DEI," said John Story, the general manager at DEI.
Speaking of DEI, they have been served. Former Ginn Racing drivers Sterling Marlin and Joe Nemechek, along with two crew chiefs, filed a lawsuit against Ginn Racing, which was absorbed by Dale Earnhardt, Inc. in August. Separate breach of contract suits were filed for Bobby Ginn and DEI. The four former employees claim to have money owed to them.
According to the suit, both Marlin and Nemechek were expected to earn $1.2 million this season, and were promised 45 percent of their race winnings and 33 percent of souvenir sales. Nemechek earned more than $4 million in race winnings last season, while Marlin eanred $3.2 million.
