DEI-Ganassi Racing set to merge

November 12, 5:38 PMDetroit NASCAR ExaminerJosh Lobdell

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In a story just broken by ESPN and NASCAR Now’s Marty Smith the rumor mill has finally stopped and DEI and Ganassi will become one team starting in 2009.

This is a survival move by both enterprises, but one that I think will eventually lead to an all-star team. DEI is getting the at-the-track presence in Chip Ganassi that it has been missing since the death of its founder Dale Earnhardt Sr. Ganassi is getting a free ticket out of a dying-on-the-vine Dodge team and access to better engines out of the Earnhardt Childress Engine shop.

Along with this being a great move for both race teams, there are several other clear winners in this deal. The first and foremost being Richard Childress Racing.

In the last merger between DEI and Ginn racing where seven race teams became six NASCAR only allowed the new company to sell of one its top 35 owners points positions. Now in this deal we have six race teams becoming four and the new Earnhardt Ganassi team will have two top 35 in owners point positions they cannot use.

Without doubt one of those positions will be sold to Childress for his #33 team which faced the possibility of starting the new year with a new sponsor without any 2008 owner’s points. Now he will breathe easy as his new team will most likely start 2009 guaranteed into the first five races.

The other clear winner here is whoever finishes the 2008 season in 36th place in owners points. In the DEI-Ginn merger one of the top 35 points position was eliminated, and everyone from that point down was moved up one spot. Meaning whoever finishes 36th becomes 35th and is guaranteed a spot in the field for the first five 2009 races.

Currently the #47 of JTG/Doherty racing with driver Marcos Ambrose, the #84 Team Red Bull car with driver AJ Allmendinger, and the #77 of Penske Racing with Sam Hornish Jr. are the teams most likely to end up 36th in the points.

On the downside there are also some clear losers in this deal. Those of course are the employees of the two merged teams. When seven teams become four without fail some people will be out of a job. Currently there are unconfirmed reports that up to 100 people have been laid off at DEI today. That is on top of people who lost their jobs earlier this year when Ganassi shuttered his #40 team.