Dale Earnhardt Jr., voted Nascar's most-popular driver by fans for the last four years, will quit the race team started by his father after failing to wrest control of the organization from his stepmother.

``We weren't really close with what they had in mind,'' the 32-year-old Earnhardt said at a press conference, broadcast by Speed Television from his JR Motorsports racing shop in Mooresville, North Carolina. ``We decided it was time for us to move on and seek other opportunities for 2008.''

His contract with Dale Earnhardt Inc. expires at the end of this season. The announcement ends speculation on Earnhardt's future with the company that began before the start of the season and played out like a soap opera in the second-most watched sport on television.

Earnhardt said that he didn't know who he would drive for next season.

``We'll see who wants to hire me,'' he said. ``I don't ever want to make this decision, or change, again. I want to drive for a long time, and I want to be successful at doing it.''

Earnhardt said that he didn't know if he'd be driving in the No. 8 car because car owners have the rights to numbers. His car's sponsorship by Anheuser-Busch Cos.' Budweiser beer also is undecided, Tony Ponturo, the company's vice president of sports marketing, said in an e-mailed statement.

``Budweiser and JR Motorsports have an agreement in place to ensure Dale Jr. will continue to personally represent Budweiser through 2008, and we look forward to discussing our future with Dale Jr. and DEI in the weeks ahead,'' Ponturo said.

Earnhardt said that he's had a ``great relationship with Budweiser, and those things will definitely be discussed and dealt with in a timely fashion.''

Most Exposure

Budweiser has gained the most exposure on Nascar racing broadcasts than any other primary car sponsor, said Eric Wright, a vice president with researcher Joyce Julius & Associates in Ann Arbor, Michigan. By measuring the amount of time Budweiser's logo appears during a race -- on Earnhardt Jr.'s car and elsewhere -- and multiplying it by typical advertising rates, Budweiser had received $68.8 million in exposure in the first eight races this year, he said.

Earnhardt Jr. won back-to-back championships with the team in Nascar's second-tier Busch Series in 1998 and 1999 before moving to the top series, now known as Nextel Cup, full time in 2000. The team was started by Dale Earnhardt Sr., who died in a racing accident at the Daytona 500 in 2001. Earnhardt Sr. was a seven-time champion...