DEI can't sell No. 8 to Hendrick

Hendrick Motorsports will not be able to purchase the No. 8 from Dale Earnhardt Inc., nor is DEI allowed to sell it to Hendrick or any other team.

NASCAR on Monday reiterated its long-standing policy that the sanctioning body owns and assigns all car numbers, and spokesman Ramsey Poston said a team cannot sell its car number to another team on its own accord.

“NASCAR owns the numbers and licenses them to teams on an annual basis,” Poston said. “A team may allow another team to use the number for that year pending NASCAR’s approval.” The numbers, however, are not for sale, Poston said.

Poston said each year a team submits numbers it wishes to use. If a team has been using that number, it is generally reissued. If a team chooses to relinquish the number, the number returns to NASCAR and it will assign it to another team that has requested it. NASCAR plays no role in why or how a team decides to no longer request a number’s use.

Asked if a team could make a financial arrangement with another team to encourage it to give up the use of a number, Poston said NASCAR would discourage such arrangements.