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	SOCCER	NASCAR	GOLF

Dale Earnhardt Jr. stopped short of guaranteeing he would remain in the No. 8 Budweiser race car after his contract with Dale Earnhardt Inc. expires at the end of the 2007 season. Richie Gilmore, director of motorsports at DEI, told several reporters earlier Monday that Earnhardt would be signed by May.
 -- New York Times

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said that the contract negotiations of his current agreement, which expires at the end of this year, have included discussions about him taking some sort of ownership and leadership role at DEI.
 -- Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A source close to NASCAR said the governing body is finalizing a plan that will allow the top 12 in points in the 10-race playoff with no provision for how many points a driver is from the lead. The top 10 and anybody within 400 points after 26 races qualified for the playoff during the first three years of the Chase. But because the 400-point margin hasn't been a factor -- seven or fewer drivers were within that range from 2004-06 -- NASCAR decided to set a hard number.
 -- jayski.com

Before rain washed out the Daytona test sessions, the Chevrolet drivers Tony Raines and Jimmie Johnson were fastest in testing. Toyota, a newcomer that will introduce the Camry in Cup competition this year, was third with Dave Blaney, ahead of drivers in Fords and Dodges.
 -- New York Times

Roush Racing's David Ragan has been approved to compete in the Nextel Cup Series events of Speedweeks 2007 at Daytona International Speedway. Two Nextel Cup rookies No. 72-Brandon Whitt and No. 84-A.J. Allmendinger will come to Speedweeks with "observation" approval. They must also participate in the final session of Cup testing Jan. 15-17.
 -- NASCAR.com

Boris Said announced that he's got enough sponsorship to compete in seven Cup races this season with the No Fear Racing team he co-owns.
 -- jayski.com

	NFL	MLB	NBA	NHL	COLLEGE
	SOCCER	NASCAR	GOLF