At first I thought it was going to be the end of Budweiser's relationship with Dale Earnhardt Jr. when the latter made the move to Hendrick Motorsports. The more I think about it, though, the more I think Budweiser and Earnhardt will be cracking cold ones together for a very long time to come.
Couple of things:
First, Budweiser and Hendrick have a relationship, going back to the days when it was Ken Schrader and Ricky Craven in Rick Hendrick's No. 25 Chevys sponsored by Budweiser, and Craven actually drove the No. 50 for a time during a 50th anniversary promotion. Second, Hendrick seemed to leave that door wide open during Wednesday's introductory press conference.
Hendrick said sponsorship hadn't even been considered yet for Earnhardt's new ride, for fear of leaks to the media that a Hendrick-Earnhardt deal was imminent.
"I guess my first responsibility is to (current sponsors), and we've got to look at how the teams are going to look at the end of the year going into next year and what spots on those cars are available and where they want to be," Hendrick said. "We do have some space but we have sponsors in place. ... We have to wait until we got this deal done and then we'll look at what their commitments are and what our commitments are, and we'll make it all mesh and we hopefully will get that done here in the next few months."
Furthermore, Budweiser reps released a statement Wednesday suggesting they don't believe their time with Earnhardt is through, either.
"Dale Jr. is an excellent ambassador for the sport and our company, and we look forward to exploring options with Hendrick Motorsports and JR Motorsports to continue Budweiser’s relationship with him as he enters this new stage of his racing career," said Tony Ponturo, a marketing rep for Anheuser-Busch.
Methinks Budweiser will find a way to deck that new Earnhardt ride out in red and black with its logos plastered over the hood and quarter panels.
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