According to sources close to Martin Truex Jr., Dale Earnhardt, Inc.(DEI) and Truex Jr. have come to a verbal agreement on a contract extension that would ink the #1 Bass Pro Shop driver through the 2011  Sprint Cup Season.

Truex Jr.'s contract has been the topic of speculation for many months. DEI has been adamant about having an option on the two-time Nationwide Series champion for the 2009 Sprint Cup season. However, Truex Jr. has said his camp sees the contract differently, and expects him to become a free agent after the 2008 season. It doesn't seem to matter now.

Truex Jr., according to sources, had serious conversations with new team owner Tony Stewart of Stewart HAAS Racing about joining Stewart. The money simply was not there. Truex Jr. was intrigued by teaming with two-time Sprint Cup champion Stewart, but the money DEI has now offered the young flagship driver is too much to pass up.

When Mark Martin announced his exit from DEI to drive full-time in 2009 and part-time in 2010 for Hendrick Motorsports, more than $8 million dollars became available to re-sign Truex Jr. Sources also said, the new contract will be the richest ever offered by DEI, surpassing the money paid to Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the final year of his contract with DEI in 2007, and the money paid to Martin for driving a part-time schedule this year.

Truex Jr. and DEI are attempting to work out the final details of the contract, which are said to be minuscule, in time for an announcement next week in Long Pond, PA. The Pocono Raceway is one of the racetracks Truex Jr. calls home, and he would like to make the announcement with the support of his friends and family during the week of the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500. - John 'Captain Thunder' Nevins for www.captainthunderracing.com