For the past five years, the No. 1 and No. 42 Sprint Cup Series teams ran under the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sebastes banner. However, that all changes in 2014 as the company reverts back to it’s original name – Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sebastes.

“It’s been an honor to have the Earnhardt name affiliated with our team,” Chip Ganassi Racing President Steve Lauletta told Sporting News. “Dale and Teresa have done a tremendous amount for the sport. She was visionary enough with us to do this partnership in the first place. We felt like it was a benefit. … The goal of becoming a better race team partnered together, we think we did that.

“That’s a tribute to her wanting to do the right thing for her partners, her company and her employees. We have nothing but good things to say about the partnership.”

Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing was formed in December 2008 when Chip Ganassi Racing entered into a partnership with Dale Earnhardt Incorporated. The decision was then made for Ganassi to switch from Dodge to Chevrolet, to therefore use Earnhardt Childress Racing engines and have access to the Earnhardt Technologies Group. In exchange, the No. 1 team was moved from the DEI shop to the Ganassi shop at the time.

Whether it is due to changes to a the financial structure of the organization, Ganassi officials would not confirm to Sporting News. Though as noted, Ganassi switched from ECR engines last year to Hendrick Motorsports engines.

Also, per Bob Pockrass’ article on Sporting News, EGR was listed as a seperate company from Chip Ganassi Racing in the 2013 annual report that CGR filed with the state of North Carolina. The operations of the Sprint Cup team will now fall under Chip Ganassi company this year.

 “We’ll continue to do business with those (DEI) companies,” Lauletta said. “The relationship with Teresa and DEI was a benefit to the organization and we certainly want to continue to be affiliated with them. But for our partners and for the way we operate the organization, we’re changing the brand to Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.”

The change comes as no surprise to most people in the sport. Teresa Earnhardt, widow of Dale Earnhardt and owner of Dale Earnhardt Inc., has not been involved with the team’s day-to-day operations from day one. Earnhardt has stayed focused on the DEI museum and continuing to honor Dale Earnhardt’s legacy.

“There is not a daily role (for her) of the management in the two-car Sprint Cup organization,” Lauletta said. “We’ve been operating this way pretty much since Day 1 of the partnership. We still operate the same way we have for the last five years.”

Chip Ganassi Racing enters the 2014 Sprint Cup season with two cars – Past Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray behind the wheel of the No. 1 McDonalds Chevrolet, and Kyle Larson entering his rookie season behind the wheel of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet.

On Thursday, NASCAR Nation received what was a shock to many when it was announced that Steve Letarte will be stepping off the pit box in 2015.

Letarte, who has crew chiefed for Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the past four years, will become an analyst for NBC Sports in 2015. He will join Rick Allen and Jeff Burton in the booth for the second half of the schedule.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. says it’s a unique situation, though he knew Letarte’s decision when they left Homestead-Miami Speedway after the final race of the 2013 season.

“He actually included me in on the discussion before the end of last year and I had a pretty good understanding, whether he knew or not, what he was going to do,” Earnhardt Jr. said.

Earnhardt Jr. added that it’s a tough situation because the pair are good friends and Earnhardt enjoys working with him but understands it will give Letarte the ability to spend more time with his two children.

“It’s something that’s really important to him and the way these races are broadcast and how they’re presented to the fans is a big part of how the sport remains healthy and I think that he’s going to be incredible in that role. I think that he’ll — I think that he’ll be really good,” Earnhardt Jr. commented. “I’m excited for him because I know he’s really looking forward to it. You can tell when he talks about it how genuinely enthused he is about the opportunity.”

Earnhardt said he first caught wind of a rumor surrounding it in October at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“The rumors were kind of sketchy and unclear and I didn’t know the specifics of what he was thinking about doing; just that he would even want to do anything different blew me away because we were all having such a good time and the team was moving forward and the trajectory was great for what we were trying to accomplish. We were getting closer and closer to realizing our potential,” he said.

“So yeah, it was a huge shock at first, and the more — just for me personally, it was difficult. And the more I sat down with him and talked about it, the more it made sense and the more I understood his situation and I could put my own selfishness aside and kind of understand what was important to him and how this was good for him.”

“You know, he’s a good guy. He deserves these opportunities and he’s earned it.”

Even with the announcement made, the focus remains the same for 2014 as the pair will look to win a championship together. Earnhardt Jr. knows that Letarte will be dedicated to the team as he has been in the past and expects them to have a better year this year than last year. The pair had their best season together last year – scoring 10 top fives and 22 top 10s in the 36 races.

“It’s definitely going to be emotional and difficult at times, just because we really enjoy working together,” Earnhardt added. “But I’m excited about the year. I’m excited about our chances as a team. We’ve got a great group of guys. Steve is a great crew chief that’s going to get us a good opportunity to try to win some races.”

“And I think that the team, just based on the personalities and how well we all get along and mesh and how much fun we really had last year, I think that everybody can buckle down and do their jobs and I think we can do well.”

In the years that the pair have worked together, Earnhardt says he has learned a lot from Letarte as he has changed him as a racecar driver and helped on the confidence level.

“I think I can carry that with me, what I’ve learned about myself and what I’ve learned about the job and what my job is and what my responsibility is to Steve and the crew chief,” the 39-year-old commented. “I think I can carry that with me – hopefully I can at this age. Hopefully I’ve learned something and learned enough to do a better job for the next guy.”

One of the lessons that Earnhardt learned was how to be more professional behind the wheel in handling his responsibilities and communicating with the team.

“That was a bit of a problem for me when I was younger,” he added. “I’d kind of lose it behind the wheel every once in a while and argue and fight. We definitely have moved quite a ways away from that. There’s part of me that’s kind of ready to accept the challenge and see how the change affects the team and how — it’s great that we’ve got a year to figure it out and find out who can come in there and take his place.”

Earnhardt admits, though, that part of him is afraid that they won’t be able to replace Letarte.

“It’s a guy that’s going to be hard to replace,” he said. “I’m not worried about the specific qualities that Steve has, but just will we be able to get a guy in there of equal talent, and how well will we be able to make that transition seamless. It’s going to be a real challenge to do that, and I guess that’s my only concern.”

Though when it comes to finding a new crew chief, Earnhardt says he is going to leave that up to Rick Hendrick and Hendrick Motorsports GM Doug Duchardt. He added that he would also like Jimmie Johnson’s crew chief Chad Knaus and Letarte to have a say in the choice, as well.

“I think that Steve knows what makes this team work,” Earnhardt said. “Steve knows how I can be successful and how the individuals within the team can be successful. I think he’d be a good guy to sort of pick at and hope that Doug and Rick would include him in that conversation at times.

“I think it’s important that Chad has got a lot of influence because he knows how well the shop works together and what the culture is in the shop and how a guy, a particular guy, may mesh in that environment.

“But I don’t really want to have any influence on the choice. I want — I think that those guys are the ones that can make the choice and have the most success with that decision. I’ll just kind of — it was Rick and upper management that decided to put me with Steve. I didn’t know how that was going to work out. I didn’t know much about Steve. I knew him and Jeff were not really clicking at that point in time in their careers, so I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen, but I just wanted to trust their judgment, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

There was a lot of genuine excitement associated with the opening day of NASCAR’s 2014 Pre-Season Thunder tests at Daytona International Speedway. That was largely due to the fact that it meant the new NASCAR racing season had finally arrived.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans and washed out the day’s schedule. Air Titan, NASCAR’s sophisticated track drying machine, topped the speed charts for the day.

However, that did not mean there weren’t plenty of news stories coming from Daytona including this “Must See TV” bombshell.

It’s now been confirmed that Steve Letarte, the crew chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr’s No.88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, will be departing at the end of the 2014 season and will join the NBC Sports NASCAR broadcast team next year.

An official press release from NBC Sports this morning offered some additional details:

The announcement was made today by Sam Flood, Executive Producer, NBC Sports and NBCSN. ” I’ ve always been impressed with Steve Letarte’ s interviews, and feel smarter after hearing him break down the crucial elements of each race”, said Flood. “It wasn ‘t long into our first meeting about this potential role on our broadcast team when I realized that Steve is going to be Must See TV. ”

Letarte will join fellow analyst Jeff Burton and race announcer Rick Allen across NBC Sports Group s exclusive coverage of NASCAR s Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series action on NBC and NBCSN, which includes races, pre- and post-race shows, qualifying, and studio programming.

This surprise announcement comes at a point in time when NASCAR observers felt the combination of Earnhardt and Letarte was moving in a very positive direction with many feeling they were going to be serious race winning, championship contenders this year. That theory still rings true despite the fact that this will Letarte’s final season with the team.

This morning team owner Rick Hendrick issued the following statement:

“You never want to see a talented and all-around quality person like Steve (Letarte) move on, but we understand this is an exciting opportunity for him and his family. He has all the tools to be a terrific broadcaster, and I know our fans will enjoy hearing his perspective.”

“We’re looking forward to a successful year in 2014 with Steve and Dale (Earnhardt Jr.) leading the #88 together. They have some of the best chemistry in the garage, and we know they’ll build on last season and continue to be a championship-contending team. We don’t expect to address the crew chief position until after the season. Everyone with the team is focused on 2014 and committed to having another great year.”