And as we all know, everything with Earnhardt is magnified. His popularity causes that, certainly; but as much a part of it is the unique circumstance Earnhardt is in. His team bears his name, after all.

That may make it sound like the team’s holding more chips, but it’s just the opposite. Earnhardt has the power.

If he ever came onto the open market, the competition would be insane - and I use that term not in the hyperbolic sense. It’s not hard to imagine Rick Hendrick and Richard Childress elbowing each other out of the way to get in line.

But it’s hard to see it coming to that. If they do decide to give him the majority ownership of the company, it’s tough to say no to that. (Though it’s fun to picture him running in a Hendrick car or a Childress car or even a Joe Gibbs car - one that would give him a chance to win every week.) Though an Associated Press story from yesterday indicates that if Earnhardt wanted control, he’d have to buy it - a la John Henry buying into Roush Racing.

DEI doesn’t have much choice in the matter. If Earnhardt left, that would leave Martin Truex Jr. and Paul Menard as the flagship drivers; neither has earned such a distinction yet. And no matter who DEI replaced Earnhardt with, no driver out there would bring the credibility and popularity that he does.

It’s a situation that bears watching. We’ll update if anything comes of the conference call this afternoon.

UPDATE (6:15 p.m.): Earnhardt didn’t have much to say in the teleconference: “Unfortunately, I know you guys want to know more ... and I want to tell you more than that, but there’s not more to tell,” he said. “Whenever we get the information, when I have what I have, know what I know, believe me, I won’t hold it out for long. Really nothing to report at this time.”

Someone, however, did ask him point blank if he expected to remain with DEI. He was non-committal, but in a positive way (i.e., saying he hoped so without exactly saying he hoped so): “I’m pretty excited that things are going to be fine, things are going to work out with our negotiations,” he said.