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Playing The Numbers Game In NASCAR

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By TONY FABRIZIO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 19, 2007

Fans root for sports teams through their nicknames. They root for NASCAR drivers through their car numbers.

The attachment is evident on bumper stickers, hats, shirts, tattoos and even numbers sculpted into haircuts.

So it's a little unsettling when a driver changes his number. But fans had better get used to it.

Today's expected announcement that Dale Earnhardt Jr. will drive a No. 88 car next year - that's Dale Jarrett's longtime number - is the latest remake in a trend that has seen Kurt Busch take over No. 2, Jarrett move to No. 44, Mark Martin give up his No. 6, and Martin and Tampa's Aric Almirola agree to drive a No. 8 car next year.

So why can't a driver simply take his number with him? Because it doesn't work that way.

'It's very clear in our sport that the number is the identity of the car owner,' Jeff Burton said. 'I understand and have a great deal of respect for why Junior wants to run the No. 8. Listen, I ran No. 12 because that was my dad's number that he played football and baseball with, and that was what my brothers ran. That's my family number and it means as much to me as No. 8 does to Junior.

'But that number doesn't belong to me; it belongs to Roger Penske on Ryan Newman's car, and I'm not entitled to it.'

Earnhardt's switch will create the greatest separation anxiety yet. He's the most popular driver in NASCAR - arguably the most popular driver in history - and his beloved No. 8 is plastered on everything from the Budweiser sign above the neighborhood pool table to the ankles of more than a few coeds.

Driver-number affiliations and switches are big business. Merchandising of souvenirs and other items with a popular driver's number generates millions, and a switch like Earnhardt's will generate a bonanza as fans replace their outdated items.

Think a number switch isn't important? When Hendrick Motorsports was trying to decide which number Earnhardt would get, the company applied for trademarks with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for several numbers that included '8.'

Earnhardt wanted to take No. 8 with him to Hendrick Motorsports, where he'll join Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Casey Mears next year. He could not strike a deal with his stepmother and DEI owner Teresa Earnhardt, who wanted to share in the revenues from No. 8 merchandise sales and for Earnhardt to return the number when he retired.

When Dale Jr. complained that her demand was unreasonable, fans reacted in chat rooms and on bulletin board with a torrent of venom directed at Teresa, with whom Earnhardt has a tense relationship since he was a child.

But some of Earnhardt's fellow drivers pointed out that DEI is within its rights to keep the number.

Even Earnhardt has come around on the subject somewhat.

'I think that Mark Martin said it best when he said that he had to part ways with the 6 when he left Roush, so get used to it,' he said recently on his XM Radio show.

Fans who think that drivers and their car numbers are inseparable may lack historical perspective. While it's true that Richard Petty, the sport's all-time leading winner, spent his entire career with No. 43, all-time greats Darrell Waltrip and Cale Yarborough used multiple numbers during their careers.

Even the late Dale Earnhardt Sr., whose stylized No. 3 is still one of the most recognizable emblems in sports, won the first of his seven championships with No. 2.

And since NASCAR doesn't retire numbers, virtually every number in use has a history.

'When today's fans think of the 3, they think of Dale Earnhardt,' said NASCAR vice president of communications and resident historian Jim Hunter said. 'I've been around a long time. I think of Dale Earnhardt, but I also think of Junior Johnson having that number. You take No. 8. Yes, I think of Dale Jr. But I also think Joe Weatherly.'

Weatherly, a two-time champion in the early '60s who was killed in 1964, always said he chose No. 8 'because I want people to recognize my car whether I'm right-side up or upside down.'

Earnhardt's switch to No. 88 - if, in fact, that is the number - might work out pretty well for fans with No. 8 tattoos. They can simply add an 8. It might be hard for longtime Jarrett fans to swallow.

But Jarrett, who made 379 starts with the number before switching to the No. 44 Toyota this year, doesn't mind.

'I'm glad for Junior,' he said during Sunday's telecast of the Sylvania 300. 'I had a lot of starts and a lot of success with No. 88. It's great for Junior and his fans. Now they can take those things where they just had that No. 8 and sew them together, and they don't have to buy more souvenirs and can save some money along the way.'

Reporter Tony Fabrizio can be reached at afabrizio@

tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7994.

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