Functionally ReTodded

This is racing post, so if you already rolled your eyes, screw you.  Don’t read it.

As many of you know, the extrication of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. from DEI and the employment of his stepmother Theresa has been painful, public and very messy.  The fact that the son of “The Man,” the son who shares the name over the front door, left to drive for rival Hendrick Motorsports tells you all you need to know about how bad things can get.

Then there was the contentious negotiation surrounding Junior’s efforts to bring the number eight with him to HMS, which ultimately didn’t happen for whatever reason you choose to believe.

Since that time, speculation has run wild as to what number Joonyer will run next year and into the future.  Junior himself has speculated about running the number 81 and several others.

But then, something amazing happened (allegedly).

According to the worldwide leader in sports…no wait, that’s ESPN.  According to Speed’s Bob Dilner, Robert Yates Racing (owned by former crew chief and not at all today’s typical owner) Robert Yates and his son Doug, is offering their number 38 to Junior.

Why does that matter, you might be asking?

That’s easy.  Junior drove the 8.  His grandfather Ralph drove the 8.  and the 3 was driven by, well, if you don’t know that, you didn’t get this far in this post anyway, so nevermind.

Anyway, I think that’s pretty cool.  I’ve always liked Yates and, with the exception of career douchebag Dale Jarrett, I’ve always found myself pulling for Robert’s drivers.  Rudd, Allison, Robby Gordon, Elliott Sadler, and now David Gilliland.  It seems that Robert always seems to find  guys that are good drivers but also good people, and Robert rewards them by being a standup guy and a great owner.

I really hope this works out.  It’d be nice to see Junior get a number that works and ties his past with his future.

Oh, and I’ve already got some 38 swag anyway.  So I’ll be ahead of the game.

By the way, is there any way Joonyer could get M&Ms as a sponsor and change his name to Sadler?