By Staff
I was hoping that Dale Earnhardt Jr. would wait until Sunday morning to announce where he would be driving next season.
Unfortunately, Junior scheduled a news conference for this morning at JR Motorsports, which will probably leave me with only table scraps this weekend at Michigan International Speedway.
The Earnhardt camp has said that it wanted to have a decision made by the end of June.
Although it's only the middle of June, I guess that is close enough.
I would be shocked if anything else came out of his mouth this morning at 11 a.m. than his decision on NASCAR's hottest topic.
On one hand, I am a little disappointed that he is making the announcement in the middle of the week.
It would have been great to arrive at MIS Sunday morning and see a note on the board telling us there was a press conference with Dale Jr. in the Media Center.
On the other hand, it would have been a circus, at least a bigger one than normal, had he waited until Sunday.
If he does announce his intentions for the 2008 season, I am sure there will be plenty of excitement around the track this coming weekend to keep us busy.
Junior demands the attention of a rock star. Fans and media alike are constantly hounding him on race weekend.
Everybody wants something from him, be it an autograph, an interview or an endorsement.
I can't even imagine what it is like to be Junior.
He must get tired of the constant pressure of being the face of NASCAR. He must get bored answering the same questions over and over again.
I will say this about the NASCAR media, they do give him his space when he asks for it.
I can still remember last August when the NEXTEL Cup regulars returned to MIS.
Everyone wanted Earnhardt to address his situation with Carl Edwards.
The media followed the two of them around like a hawk. You think they half expected the two of them to square off and entertain the crowd with a few punches.
Neither driver operates that way.
In fact, I was surprised that they even got that close to each other the entire weekend.
I remember waiting outside the drivers' meeting area when Junior and Martin Truex Jr. came out together and headed for their campers.
Edwards followed Earnhardt out and got his attention and the two seemed to have a brief conversation as they walked.
There were hardly any media around at that point and with the exception of a few photographers standing around with me, I doubt anyone noticed.
That was the end of the story. The two raced cleanly that day and have had no trouble since.
I am looking forward to Sunday afternoon at the track.
You just never know what might happen or whom you might see.
I can't wait to see the feeding frenzy around Junior when he arrives at MIS. Everyone will still be talking about NASCAR's biggest free agent and what his decision was today.