Earnhardt tips Stewart to succeed

Earnhardt, who has a good relationship with Stewart, expects the double champion to be able to attract many talented personnel to his outfit given the good relationships he has built over the years in the Sprint Cup garage.

"Tony will be fast, he always is," Earnhardt said. "Who says Tony Stewart doesn't know what he is doing, you know what I mean? He has proven that he knows what he is doing. He has got a lot of confidence, people like him. People like to work for him. He should be fine."

"I have been working with him all the time, no matter what he is driving. He is a good guy to draft with at the speedway races. He takes care of you on the mile and a half tracks, give and take with him; he will take care of you."

The Hendrick driver believes Stewart knows how to succeed as an owner given his experience as a track owner and also with his Tony Stewart Racing teams, which enjoy success in the series they compete in.

"A lot of people may look at that team and go well, the calibre isn't correct," Earnhardt said. "It doesn't match up, why would he do that? But he will make it the way he wants it. He has done that with everything.

"That race track he owns is superb. His race teams he owns, the sprints and what not, are first class. Everything he does, he gets the right people and he gets them motivated and he is a good guy. He is fun to be with, fun to work for. So that is pretty cool for him."

Earnhardt, already a team owner in the Nationwide Series, denied he would like to follow into Stewart's footsteps through buying equity in his former team DEI, which has been rumoured to be seeking investors.

"No, no, I would not. I think that if there were a time for it to be sold, this would be a good opportunity," he said. "It seems to have stepped forward over the last couple of years. It has improved itself.

"I don't mean this in a bad way, but I do not and would not have any interest in purchasing it. I would not have any interest really in purchasing any race team just to have the ownership. That really doesn't seem like a good deal."

Despite that, Earnhardt could be the next driver moving into Sprint Cup ownership as he has already expressed his desire to move his JR Motorsports team into the top series at some point. His driver Brad Keselowski is currently second in the Nationwide Series points standings.