Catchfence

Dale Earnhardt Inc. has a piece of both an engine business and a NASCAR Sprint Cup team. But there’s nothing on the race track that DEI can truly call its own.

But there are plans for DEI to get back to racing.

The first step in that plan is for 19-year-old Jeffrey Earnhardt, grandson of the late Dale Earnhardt and son of Kerry Earnhardt, to attempt to make his Nationwide Series debut in the May 30 race at Dover International Speedway in a DEI-prepared car.

He will have to qualify on speed in the Rick Ware Racing entry, and the goal is to eventually put the Earnhardt name back on the track full time with Jeffrey Earnhardt in a DEI entry with DEI-built cars, said DEI Executive Vice President and General Manager Jeffrey Steiner.

“With Jeffrey’s career emerging and looking at him as he makes his way into Nationwide and perhaps even some Truck races, it’s important to us that it is a DEI team and that’s our goal,” Steiner said May 23. “We’re putting our plans together for 2010 and beyond. This year, we’re working with some affiliate teams. It’s our hope to have him in DEI [equipment], and the car he’s racing at Dover was built at DEI.”

- Scene Daily