Junior Signs With Sony For Hendrick Ride

Friday, June 22nd 2007, 7:31 am

By: News On 6

OAKVILLE, Calif. (AP) _ Dale Earnhardt Jr. has signed an endorsement deal with Sony Electronics, but he still isn't saying what role longtime sponsor Budweiser will have with him when he joins Hendrick Motorsports next season.

``I'm a big electronics fan. I'm a big computer guy. It's products I can dig,'' Earnhardt told reporters Thursday at a winery in the heart of California's Napa Valley. He will be competing on Sunday in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway in nearby Sonoma.

His deal with Sony is a personal services contract that gives the company use of his name, likeness and voice for promotions. He also has a similar deal with Budweiser that will continue next year, regardless of what's on his car.

Budweiser has been Earnhardt's primary sponsor since 1999, and the beer manufacturer wants to continue its relationship with him at Hendrick. But car owner Rick Hendrick isn't actively pursuing new sponsors, and it's possible Bud could get shut out.

Earnhardt also said a possible endorsement deal with sporting goods manufacturer Adidas was ``on the wish list.''

Earnhardt's move to Hendrick is expected to clean up his sometimes scruffy image to match that of his teammates, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, although he appeared at Thursday's news conference in a scraggy beard, an untucked dress shirt and worn jeans _ with Puma athletic shoes.

Earnhardt, who convinced his sister to loan him the money to buy a computer when he was a teenager, said his father never believed the Internet would be a success.

``That's one place he was wrong and I was right. I took a lot of typing classes in high school,'' he said.

Neither Earnhardt nor Stuart Redsun, Sony's vice president of corporate marketing, would discuss the financial arrangement or the length of the deal.

``We're very happy at Sony to have Dale Junior involved for some time,'' Redsun said.

Earnhardt said he got a new digital camera out of the deal.

``The cash is great, but the product is good, too,'' he said.