Earnhardt a winner in numbers game

Dale Earnhardt Jr., you are now off the Budweiser Hot Seat.

The lame-duck driver of the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet revealed Wednesday in Dallas his plan to drive the No. 88 Chevrolet Impala SS for Hendrick Motorsports next year with dual sponsorship from existing Hendrick partners, the US National Guard and Pepsi-Cola.

When Earnhardt takes leave of his ride with Dale Earnhardt Inc. to join Hendrick's powerhouse four-car stable of four-time champion Jeff Gordon, defending champion Jimmie Johnson, and Casey Mears, he will drive an emerald green-and-white Mountain Dew AMP Energy Drink car in 20 points races and a blue-and-white National Guard car in the other 16 points races in the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.

"To be able to announce our new sponsorship partners, car number, and paint schemes for 2008 is a big relief for me, and I know it is for my fans as well," said Earnhardt, 32, who won 17 NASCAR Cup Series races, but no championships, in his nine years behind the wheel of the Budweiser-sponsored car. "This year has been full of major decisions and changes, and I'm really happy with the outcome."

Earnhardt, though, was elated by the fact that next season he'll be driving the No. 88, which his grandfather, Ralph Dale Earnhardt, drove in 1957. The list of others who have driven the No. 88 reads like an all-star roster: Bobby Allison, Donnie Allison, Buck Baker, Buddy Baker, Geoffrey Bodine, Ernie Irvan, Dale Jarrett, Benny Parsons, Fireball Roberts, Ricky Rudd, Rusty Wallace, Darrell Waltrip, and Joe Weatherly. In all, the No. 88 has been to Victory Lane 65 times since 1949, ranking ninth among the winningest NASCAR numbers.

"I like the fact the number has some history," Earnhardt said. "That makes me feel very proud to have it. That was what some of the other options sort of lacked; they didn't have any true history or true greatness behind them, no substance."

Earnhardt credited his sister and business manager, Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, for acquiring the rights to No. 88 after negotiating with Robert Yates, its previous owner. "I never thought a car number would create as much excitement as the car number did in this situation," said car owner Rick Hendrick.

But Hendrick should have known he was dealing with the wildly popular Earnhardt and his legion of loyal fans. "I was really trying to do good by my fans, because that was very important for them," Earnhardt said. "That was one of the more popular questions, would it have an '8' in it? What's the number? So I think they can be twice as happy about the situation.

"It's got to be sort of a relief for them. They've got to be pretty happy about it."

The announcement answered the two biggest questions Earnhardt faced - about his car number and sponsor - in the aftermath of his decision to defect from DEI to Hendrick Motorsports, where he will be joined by his cousin and crew chief, Tony Eury Jr., who announced he would be leaving DEI after the Nextel Cup race at Talladega, Ala.

With that settled, Earnhardt, who failed to make the cut for the 12-man Chase for the Nextel Cup Championship, said he will attempt to finish strong the remainder of the season with DEI, while keeping an eye on his future at Hendrick Motorsports.

"I've used the anticipation to motivate me for the rest of this season," Earnhardt said. "You know, there's all kinds of ways to find motivation; to work hard. I think I've said [it] quite a bit here lately, the integrity of the team that I'm currently driving for is really on the line here, not only for myself but the road guys, the road crew.

"It's really important that we work hard, we sort of make a good statement as we close this out and start a new chapter next year."

Big wheels to fill

Kasey Kahne, you are now on The Budweiser Hot Seat.

The 27-year-old driver of the No. 9 Dodge fielded by Gillett Evernham Motorsports was the benefactor of Earnhardt's decision to part ways with his team and sponsor when on Monday Kahne picked up Budweiser as the primary sponsor of his car, beginning next season. Bud has not been to Victory Lane in a NASCAR Nextel Cup race since Earnhardt's triumph at Richmond May 6, 2006. That's a winless streak of 53 races for the folks from Anheuser-Busch.

Kahne, meanwhile, last won a Nextel Cup event at Lowe's Motor Speedway last Oct. 14, a streak of 32 races. Kahne, like Earnhardt, failed to qualify for the Chase and is ranked 22d in the points. His best finish this season was a runner-up effort to Carl Edwards four races ago at Bristol, Tenn.

"I've got a ton of excitement for Budweiser, I just want to make sure our program gets a little better before all that excitement with our new sponsor starts up," Kahne said. "We just need to pick up our program."

Kurt Busch, driver of the rival No. 2 Dodge fielded by Penske Racing, said Kahne was likely to go through a transition period. "I think it's going to take Kasey some time to develop into that guy and the fans to look at him as that guy," Busch said. "I think in time it will balance out. He definitely is one of those quiet and shy guys with probably the loudest sponsor there is. It looks a bit different than my situation, but winning races and running for championships, that's what people want to see and ultimately that's what's more important."

Passing gear

The Chase for the Nextel Cup goes from the Magic Mile to the Monster Mile this weekend. While Clint Bowyer, fresh off his first career Nextel Cup victory last Sunday at New Hampshire International Speedway, surprised many with his dominant victory at the start of Chase, Johnson, the defending champ, seemed to gain momentum when he captured the pole position for tomorrow's Dodge Dealers 400 at Dover, Del. Johnson, behind the wheel of his No. 48 Chevrolet, turned a fast lap of 154.765 miles per hour at The Monster Mile to bump Juan Pablo Montoya (153.833) off the top of the speed charts during pole qualifying yesterday. With track position so important at Dover, "We were really focused on getting that first pit stall," Johnson said. "Mission accomplished there, but this is just one day of many long ones to come. We had a good day [yesterday], but we have to wake up tomorrow and have another one." . . . Jacques Villeneuve, the former Formula One champion, CART champion, and 1995 Indianapolis 500 winner, will make his NASCAR debut today in the Smith's Las Vegas 350 Craftsman Truck Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway behind the wheel of the No. 27 Toyota Tundra fielded by Bill Davis Racing. "I've not raced there, but I've raced on a few ovals, but there was no race there [at Las Vegas] when I was racing in North America," said Villeneuve, who last raced for the BMW Sauber team last year on the F1 circuit. "I've completed five days of testing so far in NASCAR vehicles; two days at Chicago in the truck, one day at Kentucky in the Car of Tomorrow, and two days of drafting and testing in the COT at Talladega. The truck was much more comfortable to drive than the COT, but I think that has been the common thought with the drivers more familiar with them than I am. Our goal when we started this program with Bill Davis Racing was to just get comfortable in the cars and trucks, and get in as many miles as possible, but testing can also be tedious. I'm excited to finally get back to racing." . . . Joey Logano, the 17-year-old wunderkind from Middletown, Conn., will need to just start today's Busch East Series finale at Dover, Del., to become the first rookie champion in the history of the circuit and youngest champion in the history of a NASCAR touring division. Logano, a winner of six races this season (five in the Busch East circuit), became the youngest winner of a NASCAR West Series event when he won the opener at Phoenix in April, then became the youngest winner of the Busch East Series event when he won that series opener at Greenville-Pickens (S.C.) Speedway. "To get a championship this year would be awesome," said Logano, a driver in the Joe Gibbs Racing development program. "I'm not sure how many records I broke doing it. You know, I mean, it's what we tried for all year. That was our goal starting out this year. It's just awesome to get one." . . . Braintree entrepreneur R.J. Valentine and his co-driver, Andy Lally, came up short in capturing the Grand Am Rolex Series GT3 team and driver championships, losing both to the winning Farnbacher Loles team from Danbury, Conn., in last Saturday's season-ending Sunchaser 1000 at Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City. Valentine and Lally, who teamed with Spencer Pumpelly, were stymied when their TRG No. 66 CRG/Maxter Porsche GT3 suffered an engine failure during Lally's stint, leaving the team to finish the race 23d. "Although [it was] unfortunate we lost an engine, it has been a fantastic year with Andy, Kevin [Buckler, team owner] and the entire TRG operation," Valentine said. "Now we look forward to a new dawn and a new day."

Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com; material from wire services, various sanctioning bodies, race teams, sponsors, and track publicity departments was used in the preparation of this report.