DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Dale Earnhardt Inc. will field three Nextel Cup teams next season but could expand to a fourth car.

DEI will have cars for Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex and rookie Paul Menard next season, but Richie Gilmore, vice president of motorsports, says the organization is looking to add a fourth team. Gilmore says the team wants to decide by the end of this month how many teams it will have next season.

NASCAR rules limit organizations to four Cup teams, although Roush Racing has been grandfathered in with its five teams. No date has been set on when Roush must comply with the rule.

Earnhardt says it makes sense for DEI to expand to four teams.

"I think that every team should strive to own that many,'' he said after his Busch series victory Friday night. "You're more successful if you own more cars.''

Before Saturday night's Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway, Earnhardt was the only driver in the top 16 in Cup points who drove for an organization with less than three full-time Cup teams. DEI fields Cup cars full time this season for Earnhardt and Truex. Menard competes full time in the Busch series.

Also, Gilmore says that the team is looking at some sort of merger with MB2 Motorsports, whether it's sharing resources or having one of MB2 Motorsports' teams move under the DEI banner. Joe Nemechek and Sterling Marlin drive for MB2 Motorsports.

"We're looking at all our options,'' Gilmore said.

If DEI expands to four cars, space becomes an issue. Gilmore says MB2 Motorsports has enough space for DEI to put a fourth car there.

"We look at MB2 as we could help them with resources and they could help us with space,'' Gilmore said.

Jarrett hurting

Dale Jarrett entered Saturday night's race with a broken left hand, the result of a crash last week at Infineon Raceway. Jarrett was diagnosed with the injury Thursday evening at Daytona along with a stretched ligament. He was involved in a crash late in last weekend's race. He was to have worn some additional padding during Saturday's race.

Flipping the switch

Saturday night's race marked the final Cup race of the season for Fox. NBC and TNT take over the season's second half beginning next weekend at Chicagoland Speedway.

Special visit

Vice President Dick Cheney visited Daytona International Speedway before Saturday's race. He met with teams sponsored by the U.S. Army (Joe Nemechek), National Guard (Greg Biffle) and Air Force (Ken Schrader) before the race. He also attended the drivers meeting and thanked teams for their support of troops overseas.

Pit stops

With the Busch series racing in Mexico and likely Canada soon, the question becomes if the Cup series will race outside the country. NASCAR President Mike Helton told the Tampa Tribune, "I wouldn't look for an international Cup race for a while.'' ... Colin Braun, a 17-year-old competing in the Grand American Series, was part of the winning team in Thursday night's race. He says he's received some interest from NASCAR teams. The victory made Braun the youngest winner in series history. ... Richard Petty turns 69 today.