Dale Earnhardt Jr to the "Evil Empire"

Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans have never been so conflicted in their lives. The NASCAR world is a complete buzz. Spend two seconds in a racing chat room and you'll here everything from "good for Jr." to "I'm never watching racing again." People have put so much of their racing lives into the rivalry that has become of the Earnhardts and Jeff Gordon that the thought of them being teammates is pretty hard to imagine.
In the history of NASCAR I don't think there has been a driver who is more loved than Earnhardt Jr. He is the son of one of the most controversial drivers who died in the Daytona 500 in 2001. Having said that, I'm not sure if there has been a driver in the history of NASCAR more hated than Jeff Gordon (at least by Earnhardt fans). It's not that there is anything wrong with Gordon, but hey there's got to be a bad guy so why not some pretty boy from California (or Indiana depending on who you ask) who likes to where rainbow colors and always wins. Now, take those two drivers and team them up.
I have to wonder what the NASCAR brass thinks about this. In one hand you have NASCAR's most popular driver going to an organization that really knows how to win: so therefore Dale will win. So up go the sales right? Still, I have to imagine that NASCAR would have loved being able to market a great rivalry between Jeff Gordon and Dale Jr. A week to week square off like Sr. and Gordon had for a little while. During the press conference Jr. said that he thinks that he can still compete against Gordon, but it is never quite the same when they are teammates, when you know they are friends behind the scenes. A friendly competition between friends instead of a deep hatred between two drivers that we as fans love to create . If anything, it will definitely be interesting to see how 2008 unfolds.