CONCORD, N.C. -- Jeff Gordon believes it will be hard for Dale Earnhardt Jr. to stay with his late father's company because of the public battle between the driver and his stepmother.

Junior is in the final year of his contract at Dale Earnhardt Inc., and negotiations on a new deal recently exposed the difficult relationship he shares with Teresa Earnhardt. She recently questioned his commitment in a Wall Street Journal article, which angered NASCAR's most popular driver.
As the sides now try to pull their contract talks in-house, Gordon said Wednesday that it may be too late.

"I think that if he's smart, he'll do what's best for him and I hope that's at DEI, I really do,'' Gordon said during a press event for Hendrick Motorsports. "Is that reality? I think it's gone too far. When it gets ugly in the media, it's usually very, very difficult to rebound from that.''

Gordon has enjoyed a long and stable relationship with car owner Rick Hendrick, who signed Gordon in 1992 and eventually rewarded him with a lifetime contract. So he's never had the public contract squabbles that several drivers have had in the past few years.

But no negotiations have been watched as closely as Earnhardt's. He has said he wants some control at DEI, the company founded by his late father, and Teresa said last week that she's willing to discuss it with him.

Whether that's enough remains to be seen, Gordon said.

"I think that you've got a little stubbornness going on there,'' Gordon said. "Junior is in the seat to be able to write his own ticket, he can do whatever he wants. He can go to any team, he can start his own team, he's got the sponsors who are going to back him, the fans that are going to back him.

"He's really in the power position, and if Teresa is not recognizing that, then shame on her ... if she doesn't recognize that DEI will have a tough time surviving without Junior, I think she's making a big mistake.''

On Tuesday, rival driver Kevin Harvick called Teresa "a deadbeat owner,'' because she very rarely is seen at the race track. Harvick's comments put Junior in the awkward position of having to defend her, and Teresa received more support Wednesday from Hendrick, who said she shouldn't be judged by the amount of time spent at the track.

"I think people manage different ways, and I think if she's got good people at the racetrack ... it's really her business if she wants to be there or not,'' Hendrick said. "I know Joe Gibbs, he didn't come much this year, but (son) J.D. (Gibbs) stepped up and did the job. So I sure don't think she deserves any criticism.''

I'm officially sick of hearing about it.

I think other drivers should stay out of it. It's between Dale and Teresa.

Jeff was actually asked about it.

I think that he (and all the others, including Harvick) should realize that even when asked that it doesn't truly matter what they think. They should stay out of it.

I couldn't care less about Teresa and Dale and the whole thing.

If you don't care, then why are you posting in this thread? Just wondering. All I said was that he was asked.. *shrugs*

I was stating the fact that I am sick of hearing about it. That is all. Is this really worth arguing about? I'm gonna go with no.

I'm not even going to get into it.

It's the media that wants something to talk about. And when the drivers are asked, they just give them an answer

Well, pardon me for thinking that drivers should still take the high road and not give the media a story that's already received way too much attention. That's the point I'm trying to make, or at least the opinion I'm trying to express. That is all.

Okay. That's trippy.

Me? No i'm not. Everything I post Court deletes. Read this fast, it will be gone within 5 seconds.

Is that what's happening? I'm so confused. That's not nice.

I think so, I have posted proabably 5 times now but boom it's gone.

I noticed that your stuff keeps disappearing. Hence the "okay that's trippy" post.

I haven't even deleted anything. Yeah, I deleted Kelly's FIRST one, 'cause that was a little over the line.. but that was it.

I think two disappeared, to my knowledge. Two or three. One that I didn't get to read, one that said "I feel so loved" and one that said "now I'm scared" or something to that effect. Kelly, pm me what you said. I'm curious.

I pm'd you both back.

Happy Easter. :)

I think Jeff has a point here. I think DEI will suffer if he leaves. I didn't really like the comment that Kevin made about Teresa though.

Wow, surprise, surprise. A thread with Jeff's name gets nasty. :rolleyes:

I personally have to agree. I understand this gives the media something to talk about, but they should still butt out of everyone else's business. The contract stuff is between Dale and Teresa.

Unfortunetly now, this is all we're going to hear about until he either signs or announces he's going some place else and if he does that, we'll never hear the end of it.

I agree with both of you

No Comment always works well too

Which just thrills me.

I thought it would :hehe

Don't get me wrong, I like Dale as a driver. But I wish they would just let this whole contract thing go already.

Of course ya'll know i'm not a fan of Jeff, but I totally respect him as a driver. I think he is a great driver and the sport wouldn't be the same without him but how come whenever we say something negitive about him we get yelled at? I've seen people write negitive things about drivers I like a lot, expample Kevin Harvick, you guys were saying he is a dumbass and stuff but I didn't make a big deal about it. So i'm just wondering why we get yelled at for making fun of drivers you like but you can make fun of drivers we like. And i'm not trying to start a fight here, like I said, i'm just wondering because it's something I don't understand.

Erica, this isn't anything about you I just used your post because it was kinda on the subject I was writing.

Kelly, I couldn't agree with you more. I don't think there should be name calling of any driver....but I was vetoed on that awhile ago.

At least someone agrees with me...I don't think i've ever called Jeff any names, yes I may have said something about him I shouldn't have but at least I didn't call him things.

Yeah, I don't think anyone was ripping on Jeff for the sake of ripping on Jeff in this thread. But that's just me.