From Jayski.com:

Gilmore Expects Dale Jr to sign with DEI soon: Dale Earnhardt Jr. likely isn't going anywhere. Negotiations to re-sign the signature driver of Dale Earnhardt Inc. are on the fast track and likely will be finalized by May if not sooner, DEI director of motorsports Richie Gilmore said on Monday. "Before we come back here in February [for the Daytona 500] would be my wish [to have a deal done] so we wouldn't have the distraction of that every week," Gilmore said during the first day of preseason testing at Daytona International Speedway. "I would say, realistically, probably May." Gilmore said losing the most popular driver on the Nextel Cup Series and the son of seven-time Cup champion Dale Earnhardt never has been a consideration for anybody at DEI, including owner Teresa Earnhardt. Gilmore discounted comments in the Dec. 14 edition of The Wall Street Journal in which Teresa said: "Right now the ball's in [Earnhardt's] court to decide on whether he wants to be a NASCAR driver or whether he wants to be a public personality. I'm around Teresa pretty much every day and I've never heard her comment that way," Gilmore said. "Teresa doesn't get out there a lot to the media, but when I talk to her, it's never negative against Junior that way." Gilmore said every conversation he's had with Teresa involved re-signing her stepson. Gilmore said Teresa has tried to remove herself from negotiations as much as possible "because she thinks it will happen faster maybe if she takes the personal side out of it." Gilmore doesn't find it unusual that Teresa and Earnhardt haven't discussed the comments to the WSJ, noting the two sometimes go two or three months without talking. But he wouldn't describe their relationship as tumultuous as it often is made to sound. "A lot of stuff does get blown out of proportion that makes for good stories," Gilmore said. Gilmore said Earnhardt has become DEI and he can't imagine the company without him, although Earnhardt does talk of driving his father's black #3 for Richard Childress Racing late in his career. "I've never even thought that far down the road," Gilmore said. "Being in the circle with [Earnhardt] and Teresa I don't believe any of us have thought that way."(ESPN.com)(1-8-2007)

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/motor/nascar/2007-01-18-earnhardt-jr_x.htm

More from Jayski.com:

Eury Jr. would leave DEI if Dale Jr. bolts: If #8-Dale Earnhardt Jr. opts to leave Dale Earnhardt, Inc. at the conclusion of the 2007 Nextel Cup season, his crew chief will follow suit. Tony Eury Jr., Earnhardt's crew chief and first cousin, told ESPN.com on Sunday that if Junior goes, he'll go, too. "Yes, [I'd go]," Eury responded when asked if he'd follow Earnhardt to a new race team. "That's the way I based my feelings when I decided to stay there and sign a long-term contract. I made it very specific to them that if 2007 comes and Dale Jr. decided to do something else, I'd like to have my options open to do whatever I want to do." Ultimately, though, Eury hopes Dale Jr. stays put. "The best thing is to stay at DEI," Eury said. "DEI is his Dad's deal. [Junior] should be running the company. That's what Dale Sr. built the company for, was for those kids to have something later on in life. However it turns out, it turns out. I really don't want to get into the politics side of it with them, so I just let them handle it and we'll figure it out from there." Earnhardt said on Feb. 8 he must get majority ownership of DEI in order to remain with the company his father founded. Eury said he's uncertain where the contract negotiation stands. He's staying out of it. "I just told Junior for him and Kelley [Earnhardt Elledge] to figure out whatever they want to do -- stay or go," Eury said. "I hope he stays, but if they can't get things worked out, that's fine, we'll just figure out what's best for all of us."(ESPN.com)(2-18-2007)