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DEI officials say company not purchasing RYR
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Dale Earnhardt Inc. Vice President Richie Gilmore disputed reports that his company could be buying all or part of Robert Yates Racing.
During the race weekend at Phoenix International Raceway, DEI Technical Director Steve Hmiel confirmed that the company was in discussions concerning a purchase of at least part of RYR. He said the company could purchase RYR's shop and equipment, but that it could also acquire the No. 88 team and its owner points.
"If we can have more capacity, the number would be a bonus," Hmiel said at Phoenix International Raceway. "We've heard Team Red Bull has made an offer to buy the number, but we're not looking to buy just the number."
The owner points could be transferred to the third DEI team of Paul Menard. On Tuesday, though, Gilmore said that the story had grown out of proportion.
"Stories definitely grow in the sport and maybe it's a slow time of the year with the Chase not being quite as tight as it should be," Gilmore said. "It's one of them stories that grew. I told [DEI team owner] Teresa [Earnhardt], maybe if Teresa was going to go get a cup of coffee at 8 o'clock in the morning, by noontime around here she's going to buy a Starbucks. So I think the story kind of grew that way. It grew legs for sure.
"But right now we're just focused on getting Paul ready for next year and building our three organizations here at DEI. I think that was a story that grew a lot of legs this weekend at Phoenix maybe on a slow media weekend."
When asked if there was anything to the reports that DEI could be considering purchasing all or part of the team, Gilmore's answer was succinct.
"No," he said.
At Phoenix, when asked about the situation, team owner Robert Yates didn't deny he was in talks with DEI and said he planned to tell the No. 88 team its fate before this weekend's race at Homestead. The No. 88 has no driver and no sponsor for 2007 since Dale Jarrett and UPS are moving over to the Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota team.
Mentioned Drivers: Michael Waltrip
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