Can you imagine the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox merging operations ?

How about Michigan Football and Ohio State Football teaming up and working together to build a better, more powerful combined team ?

NASCAR's two biggest names -- Earnhardt and Petty -- might fall under the same banner in the near future in the latest sign of how NASCAR's middle-of-the-road teams are struggling to keep pace with multi-car and mega-supported teams in the Sprint Cup Series.

While Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty never were true rivals on-track, the competition between each drivers' stats always persisted. Earnhardt never matched Petty's incredible 200-win total, but in 1992, he reached seven championships in NASCAR's top division to tie "The King".

Knowing that, it seems especially weird that at least one team representative acknowledge this weekend that Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Petty Enterprises have had discussions about joining forces.

"I think in this time, in this sport, anybody running from one team to three teams is talking to somebody, and anybody with four teams is trying to get to eight teams," said Loomis, vice president of race operations for Petty Enterprises.

Loomis likened it to what has been taking place throughout the financial world in recent weeks. Organizations such as Petty Enterprises and DEI, which are short on sponsorship dollar commitments for next season, are trying to align themselves with larger companies that are on more solid financial ground.

So there you have it.

Tough times in NASCAR have made a merger of two teams that either have a history themselves or the history of its founding member that have dominated much of NASCAR's 60 years of competition.

Is that good? Is It bad?

Overall, I don't see mergers as a bad thing -- especially in the racing climate NASCAR has grown to. An Earnhardt-Petty Motorsports (or King Intimidator Racing?) is the only way either of those teams has an viable shot at race wins in the future, much less the unlikely championship.

Let's face it: NASCAR has nearly reached Formula One in how effectively large conglomerate teams dominate the sport. Granted the number in NASCAR fills a counting hand closer to capacity, but in all reality, Hendrick Motorsports, Roush Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing and Richard Childress Racing are the only teams that have a shot at winning each weekend at this point.

The combination of Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Petty Enterprises is an interesting twist if it goes through, but at the same time, it indicates how delicately smaller teams in NASCAR will have to tread in order to stay aflo