This past week, news broke that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will be driving the #88 car and that the car will feature Pepsi Co’s energy drink, Amp. I personally like both moves made by Earnhardt.
- Junior has done his fans a service by choosing to make his car #88. People who have Dale Jr. stickers, draw another 8. You have an Earnhardt #8 tattoo? No need to remove it. Just get another 8 tatted right next to it.
- Earnhardt Jr. will be aligned with a young product on a distinguished companies list of brands. By signing with Pepsi Co, Jr. will make good money based on the sponsorship with a historically strong company. At the same time, he will be aligned with a young product and will be able to enhance its rise among the ranks of energy drinks as he struggles to rise among the ranks of NASCAR drivers. Darren Rovell breaks down Amp’s market share of the energy drink industry on his site [Let’s See What Junior Can Do].
I think that Dale Jr. should just be happy that this racing year is coming to an end. He has had to deal with the media a lot over the course of the year and would probably like to get back to primarily worrying about racing. He has split from DEI and will hopefully be able to put everything behind him as he begins a new era driving the #88 car and drinking Amp energy drink on his victory laps.
-Darren Heitner
