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Earnhardt disappointed he won't be able to keep No. 8

BROOKLYN, Mich. - Dale Earnhardt Jr. is excited about the future now that he knows for sure he will have to leave the No. 8 behind at Dale Earnhardt Inc.

BROOKLYN, Mich. - Dale Earnhardt Jr. is excited about the future now that he knows for sure he will have to leave the No. 8 behind at Dale Earnhardt Inc.

Negotiations to take his iconic number along to Hendrick Motorsports in 2008 broke down earlier this week, leaving Earnhardt disappointed and putting the onus on stepmother Teresa Earnhardt, owner of Dale Earnhardt Inc., the team founded by his late father.

"It's her number, it's her decision," he said yesterday at Michigan International Speedway. "My personal feelings are disappointment. But, like I said, I kind of knew that it was going to be hard to convince her to let us have it, and that's the case."

Earlier in the weekend, Earnhardt, NASCAR's most popular driver, said, even though he expected all along that the talks would fail, he didn't say anything because he hated disappointing his fans.

But, yesterday, he said he was only looking ahead: "I've already been thinking about what other direction I want to go and we'll do that."

Asked what numbers he is thinking about, Earnhardt said, "When I'm ready to decide and tell everybody, I'll tell everybody then. I'm not going to tell you everything that runs through my head, but we got some pretty neat stuff that we talk about." *