With the announcement of the Dale Earnhardt Inc.-Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sebates merger still soaking in, there are a great number of unknowns concerning the deal. It is clear, the new Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing will be a four car team with Martin Truex Jr., Juan Pablo Montoya and Aric Almirola signed on to drive, with the fourth driver, sponsorship deals and other logistics still being worked out.

Tony Glover, team manager for Chip Ganassi Racing explained as the weeks go by more information will be known and that even those within both companies are in the dark about most of the details.

"I really don't know much about it," Glover told HardcoreRaceFans.com. "It just took place right before we came down here. There's still a lot of details to be worked out and I guess we'll know more about it next week. Anything can be as good as you want to make it."

Last week, DEI reportedly laid off more than 100 employees as a result of the merger and it is unclear if that is the last of the downsizing. Martin Truex Jr. pointed out the merger puts both teams in a tough spot and unfortunately people have to be let go.

"I don't know how this is all going to work out," Truex said Friday at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. "I know it"s going to be difficult. You have two teams trying to work together. The manufacturer is going to be different. We have to get rid of a lot of people, they have to get rid of a lot of people, getting everybody to work together and be on the same page and believe in each other is going to be tough."

Some of the biggest unknowns surrounding the merger center around the team's manufacturer, sponsors for 2009, the team's fourth driver and the simple logistics of which shop the new team will work out of.

"It's definitely been difficult," Truex said of all the changes going on at DEI over the past few years. "One thing I told the guys this week was that one of the toughest to do, and it doesn't sound like much, is just moving. If we have to move shops again, we just kind of got settled into where we're at and make things work and got things streamlined and building cars. So, if you move shops it takes two or three weeks and then youre behind."

If DEI is forced to move shops during the off-season, this will mark the second time in as many years. After acquiring Ginn Racing after its demise, DEI's Cup operation was moved into the old Ginn shop. For Truex, these moves coupled with the constant turmoil and changes within the team seem to be the wall that has kept his team from performing at their best.

Truex Jr.'s crew chief, Kevin 'Bono' Manion, refused to comment on the merger when approached Saturday morning.

One of the biggest changes for DEI came when they lost Dale Earnhardt Jr. at the end of the 2007 season. After asking for a majority ownership in the team, Earnhardt Jr. felt the team had lost something in the years following his father's death in 2001. Unwilling to budge, the tense relationship between Junior and step-mother and team owner Teresa Earnhardt was too much to overcome. Reacting to last week's announcement, Dale Jr. said Friday that he felt the merger was "good for both teams."

"It gives those guys a good opportunity to try to get through the season financially," Earnhardt Jr. added. "Chip Ganassi is a racer. They really need somebody like that. I just hope that they move forward and make some things happen. It is tough this year, tough next year, especially for all the guys trying to find money. That is this biggest problem."

When asked what his late father would have thought of the move, Junior was quick to point out no one could know. He did add that his father would have had more success finding the sponsorship dollars that are lacking now.

"When my Daddy died, all of that changed. Everything about everything changed," Earnhardt Jr. explained. "If he was here, he would be sad, but he is not and everybody has to go do their own thing and make their own way. Everybody has got to take care of themselves. He ain"t here to take care of everybody, so you have to do your own thing, take care of yourself. Gotta do what they gotta do and that said and I ain't got nothin' to do with it and I don't really have an opinion about it. I want them to succeed, I want them to be happy. I want it to work. But I can't exhaust any of my emotion over it because of what I got going on myself. I have to get my own thing going, I got to do better. I got things I could do better."

As Truex Jr. and Glover pointed out, only time will tell if this is the right move for both organizations. One thing that is clear is that due to tough economic times and struggling performance, this merger was a necessary evil for both teams. Lack of funding forced their hands, yet if they can work through their differences and find a working balance, success may be right around the corner.

"We have a lot of work to do," DEI President of Global Operations Max Siegel told HardcoreRaceFans.com. "We just agreed to combine the organizations, so all the details regarding what takes place is getting ready to take place. We're going to get started right now. We're going to have a strong management team, we still have really strong people and I think competition-wise we'll have a stronger organization."

As far as the determining factor for the choice of manufacturer, Siegel explained the details of that should be worked out - like everything else - in the coming weeks.

"It's too soon in the process to tell and there's so many details that need to be work out," Siegel added. "We're going to discuss all of those issues and as we come up with a plan in the next couple weeks then we're going to roll out and tell everybody what we're going to be doing."

Even though the season is in its final week, don't expect news to stop once the checkered flag falls. HardcoreRaceFans.com will be there all off-season bringing you all of the latest news and updates from the NASCAR world, in particular how these two teams will come together.