Final race looms for teammates Truex, Earnhardt Jr.
HOMESTEAD, Fla. - Martin Truex Jr. is ready for 2008 but says that it will be strange heading to Daytona International Speedway without Dale Earnhardt Jr. as his teammate next season.
The two are close friends away from the track and have worked together to help build Dale Earnhardt Inc. back to prominence. This season, Truex is in the Chase For The Nextel Cup while Earnhardt Jr. just missed the cut for the 12-driver championship showdown.
Sunday's Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway marks the final outing for the pair as teammates, though. Earnhardt Jr. will be one of four drivers competing for Hendrick Motorsports in 2008, joining Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Casey Mears.
"I still hate to see him go," Truex said Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. "I'm sure it won't all sink in until Speedweeks [in Daytona], we get down there testing. I'll miss having him as a teammate, he's been awesome for me. He's been great. But we'll still be great friends. A few of the hunting trips we're going on this year I'm trying to lure him along.
"We'll have some fun this winter, we'll hang out a few times here and there, but it'll definitely sink in next year when we get to Daytona."
With the loss of Earnhardt Jr., Truex will gain a higher profile within the organization, especially if his team continues to build on its performance of this season. He made the Chase and won his first Cup race in this, his second full season with DEI, and is hoping to build on that with another title-contending effort in 2008.
Truex doesn't expect any changes to be made in his team, further boosting that effort. So as he prepares to become the main driver for the organization, he doesn't flinch from the additional attention that will bring to his team.
"I'm comfortable doing what I'm doing," he said. "I think it's going to be an exciting time for me and my team to kind of get some more of the spotlight, a little more credit, a little more focus, attention. I don't think a lot is going to change for me, I'm going to go out and do my job the best I can do every week, just like I do now, just like I've always done, so I don't think a lot of that will change. I might get a little bit busier, other than that it's business as usual."
Besides, he plans to still be friends with Earnhardt Jr., and thinks most of the team will as well.
"I think he's excited, obviously, about what he's going to do next year," Truex said. "I know he's going to miss all these guys. He's been with most of these guys since he won his first Busch championship [in 1998], a lot of those guys are still the same, so I'm sure he's going to miss them.
"It's going to be a lot different for him going over there next year, but he's ... going to be right here [in the garage]. ... He's still going to be friends with all those guys."
