Mooresville, N.C. – When Dale Earnhardt Jr. needed career advice, he turned to Rick Hendrick. When his grandfather suffered a stroke, it was Hendrick who made arrangements at the hospital. When his sister had a cancer scare, Hendrick stepped in to find a specialist.
And when Earnhardt needed to find a new team, it was a no-brainer. He landed with Hendrick, announcing a five-year deal Wednesday to join the elite team in 2008.
In many ways, they need each other.
This could be the partnership that helps Earnhardt finally win the championship that has eluded him in his Nextel Cup career.
More importantly, it could help fill an aching void that both have lived with since tragic accidents killed Earnhardt’s famous father and four members of Hendrick’s family, including his only son.
“I don’t want to take his father’s place, but I think we offer something that both of us are missing,” Hendrick said. “It’s not that he’s looking for me to be his dad, or I’m looking for him to be my son.
“We have a common bond that we both lost somebody … so there’s something there.”
That bond played a large part in Earnhardt’s decision to choose Hendrick Motorsports over all the other suitors he had in the frenzied five-week push to sign NASCAR’s most popular driver.
He could have chosen Richard Childress, who fielded cars for six of the late Dale Earnhardt’s seven championships. Or he could have gone with Joe Gibbs, who, as coach of his beloved Washington Redskins, left Junior awe-struck during their meetings.
“There wasn’t a wrong answer,” Earnhardt said.
But as he fretted over his decision, constantly weighing the pros and cons of each offer, Hendrick always stood above the others.
The two have known each other since Junior was a little boy, and his father gave Hendrick his first NASCAR win in a 1983 Busch Series race. He was close to Hendrick’s son, Ricky, before he and nine others were killed in a 2004 plane crash. And Earnhardt had seen how Hendrick treats his employees the same way he treats his family.
Earnhardt watched as Hendrick allowed the driver’s maternal grandfather, Robert Gee, to continue working at HMS long after he was physically unable to do other things.
And in the six years since the elder Earnhardt’s fatal accident at the Daytona 500, Hendrick has continuously offered Junior the kind of career advice he would have gone to his own father for.
When he turned to Hendrick following his May 10 decision to leave Dale Earnhardt Inc., it just felt right. DEI officials did not immediately respond to a phone call for comment.
“I’ve had such a great relationship with Rick over the years,” Earnhardt said. “The things he does for people … I don’t deny that Joe and Richard are the same, but I’ve known Rick. I know how he treated my granddaddy when he was ill. He employed Robert years past his ability to be a competent worker. That was really important to me.
“I already felt close to him as a friend before he even talked to me about driving for him. It wasn’t a really hard decision to go to drive for him.”
It wasn’t so easy to break the news to the other owners. Earnhardt was the most sought-after free agent in NASCAR history, and embarked on a recruiting tour like nothing the sport had ever seen. He went on shop visits – often after hours, so employees wouldn’t see him – and flew on the Redskins’ plane to meet with Gibbs.
Earnhardt will replace Kyle Busch, who took advantage of becoming the next top free agent and amicably parted ways with Hendrick, after opting out of his contract that ran through 2008.
