Sources: Earnhardt Jr. In Talks With Fox, NBC About Joining Broadcast Teams

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is not motor mouth like Darrell Waltrip

NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. is "in talks with Fox Sports and NBC Sports about joining one of their broadcast teams," the "clearest sign yet that Earnhardt is close to a move to the booth," according to sources cited by Adam Stern of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL.

Earnhardt "announced about two months ago that this would be his last year racing full time."

He has "stated he was open to getting into broadcasting after enjoying guest stints in the booth with both networks." It is "unclear which, if any, of the two networks is closer to a deal with Earnhardt, or whether he has definitively committed to getting into media."

Industry observers for years have been "expecting Fox to eventually seek a successor to Darrell Waltrip," the 70-year-old NASCAR HOFer who has called races for the net since it acquired the sport's media rights in '01. Meanwhile, NBC is "seen as having less of a natural move to make were the broadcast booth to stay as three-men teams." SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL