Earnhardt Can't Bring Budweiser To JGR; Ginn Emerging As Player

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) _ If Dale Earnhardt Jr. ends up at Joe Gibbs Racing, team officials are adamant it won't be with sponsor Budweiser. <br/><br/>Bobby Ginn, however, has no problem with a beer sponsorship

Saturday, May 26th 2007, 9:02 pm

By: News On 6

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) _ If Dale Earnhardt Jr. ends up at Joe Gibbs Racing, team officials are adamant it won't be with sponsor Budweiser.

Bobby Ginn, however, has no problem with a beer sponsorship and is still hotly pursuing NASCAR's most coveted free agent.

And Richard Childress? He had nothing to say on the subject Saturday at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

With Hendrick Motorsports apparently out of the Earnhardt sweepstakes _ Hendrick has four drivers under contract and claims he isn't looking to drop any of them _ three other Chevrolet teams have emerged as the front-runners to sign NASCAR's most popular driver.

JGR could be the leading candidate, but owner Joe Gibbs insisted Saturday night he won't accept a beer sponsorship at his family business. Earnhardt is closely associated with Budweiser, his longtime sponsor, and the company can leave Dale Earnhardt Inc. with him at the end of the season.

``For me personally, and my background and everything that has happened to me, it wouldn't fit me,'' Gibbs said. ``It doesn't mean it's not fine for everybody else.''

Gibbs officials also said they won't be expanding to four teams in 2008. That means they'd have to dump a driver to sign Earnhardt, and J.J. Yeley could be on the hot seat.

JGR fields cars for two-time series champion Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin, who finished third in the standings during last year's rookie season. Yeley has yet to find the same success as his teammates, and is in the final year of his contract with Gibbs.

He heads into Sunday night's Coca-Cola 600 ranked 20th in the standings, but team president J.D. Gibbs said Yeley controls his own destiny with the team.

``We have invested in J.J. for years, and for him to be successful would be awesome,'' J.D. Gibbs said. ``Nobody wants to see J.J. succeed more than we do. We went to J.J. and said, `No matter what happens, if we go out there and we run well together, you're here forever.' ``

Ginn, meanwhile, has room for Earnhardt and has planned to expand to four teams since taking over majority ownership of the team known as MB2 Motorsports last season.

The Florida-based land developer said several weeks ago he would pursue Earnhardt, and Ginn Racing has emerged as a viable option through on-track performance by Mark Martin and Ginn's desire to field a winner.

Ginn said Saturday he's had ``exploratory conversations'' with Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, but has yet to speak to Earnhardt himself. He said he never would have taken it this far if he didn't think his organization was a perfect fit.

``If I had no ability to do it, I wouldn't have embarrassed myself or wasted his time,'' Ginn said. ``I believe we can support it and I believe he wants to win and I want to win. You put two people together that are damned determined to get there, that's a combination that has generally led to successes.

``I don't want to bring him here, if I had any opportunity to do it, and make him believe he can't win a championship.''

Jay Frye, general manager at Ginn, is a St. Louis native who once worked for Anheuser-Busch, the parent company for Budweiser. Ginn believes Frye's past relationship with A-B, and Ginn's entertainment ties to the resorts he owns and golf tournaments he hosts makes it a perfect fit.

But he firmly believes Earnhardt is the most important part of the puzzle.

``You can build great cars and have great teams, but you've got to have that spark plug that is going to put you in the winning,'' Ginn said. ``To go after a winner, even if we had no chance to get him, it's like asking a pretty girl for a date. You have nothing to lose, you might as well ask. But I wouldn't have asked if I didn't think I could support him.''

Childress, who said Friday he had yet to speak to the Earnhardts, wouldn't give an update Saturday on any discussions. With three cars under the RCR roof, he said he'll be at four in 2008 with or without Earnhardt behind the wheel.

``Our plan was to always be at four next season, that's something we had in the works way before Junior became available,'' Childress said. ``Who knows who will drive it? I might just have to dust off my helmet.''