Dale Earnhardt Jr. won't be No.8 next NASCAR Season

I know what ya'll are thinking, ''why are these morons from OddJack writing about a godforsaken thing like Dale Earnhardt's number?''

Well, in case you haven't guessed it, the 2007 NASCAR season just bores us like crazy that we really don't have ANYTHING to write about the sport OTHER than Dale Earnhardt's new number next season.

And in case you've been living under a rock lately, Dale Earnhardt Jr., after all his troubles with DEI Racing (yep, that's the team built by his father, the late Dale Earnhardt...) this year, will be racing for Hendrick Motorsports next season, forming one ridiculously powerful and talented crop of drivers in a team that already has Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon.

Yep, and since Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be joining the Hendrick Motorsports stable next season, the Hendrick guys were determined to keep their new driver's identity, THAT being the familiar Budweiser sponsor logo on the hood of Earnhardt's car and of course, the famous No.8 he carried since making a career out of racing in an oval track.

Well, judging by the way things went so far, it looks like Dale Earnhardt Jr. won't be having ANY of those.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will really be starting anew in the 2008 NASCAR season. He'll be in a NEW team, with NEW sponsors and unfortunately for him, a NEW car number. That's after Hendrick Motorsports and DEI Racing confirmed that they were unable to reach an agreement that would see Dale Earnhardt Jr. racing on a No.8 car next year.

''We've been working hard to secure the No. 8 for Dale Jr.'s car number next season,'' Hendrick GM Marshall Carlson said. ''Obviously, he has a tremendous history with that number, and we know how important it is to his fans. Unfortunately, we couldn't reach a point where the terms made sense, and now we have to move forward with other options.''

''We appreciate the efforts of Max Siegel and his team [at Dale Earnhardt Inc.], and are excited about unveiling our plans for 2008 in the near future.''

Who will bag this year's Nextel Cup? Bodog has the odds on who will win the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series.

Jeff Gordon 8/1

Juan Pablo Montoya 50/1

Greg Biffle 10/1

Jimmie Johnson 5/1

Want more odds? Visit OddsHQ for the best NASCAR betting odds and the best lines on some of today's biggest sporting events.

2007 NASCAR Season Dale Earnhardt Jr.