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FONTANA, Calif. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. does have a couple of numbers in mind for his new ride at Hendrick Motorsports next season. But he isn’t telling — yet.

“I do have one or two that are on the top of the list,” he said at California Speedway, where he will race in Sunday’s Sharp Aquos 500 NASCAR Nextel Cup event. “I don’t think there is a reason to make a big deal out of it.

“The bigger deal to me is the people that we partner with and the sponsorship that we put together. That is where the main excitement lies for me in the next announcement we make. The number, it will be fun to have a new number and to being doing something different.”

There has been considerable speculation about the car number since negotiations to take his current No. 8 with him to Hendrick fell through. The numbers are owned by NASCAR but leased to the teams and Earnhardt’s stepmother, Teresa Earnhardt, decided to hold onto the 8 for DEI.

Since then, there have been reports that Earnhardt’s representatives tried and failed to get No. 38 — a combination of his father’s No. 3 and his old number — from Yates Newman Haas Lanigan Racing, leaving the situation up in the air.

But Junior, fighting what appears to be a losing battle for a spot in the Chase for the championship, said that he believes the more important issue is who will replace current sponsor Budweiser on his new car.

“I think the attention that has been placed on (the number) is a little bit over the top,” Earnhardt said. “I am more excited on who the sponsor will be and what the car will look like, the color and design-wise and what our approach will be as far as marketing that we are going to produce to try and market ourselves with our new partners. It is real close. We are probably about two weeks away.”

There has also been speculation that current DEI crew chief Tony Eury Jr. will go with his first cousin to Hendrick.

“We don’t have any announcement yet, but Tony Jr. is working in that direction,” Earnhardt said.

Fast times

Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards were the fastest in Saturday’s practice sessions for the Sunday race.

Johnson had the fast lap of the day at 179.614 mph in the first practice during the hottest part of the day. Edwards was close behind at 179.319.

In the final “Happy Hour” practice, as the track began to cool, Edwards was fast at 179.749, followed by David Gillian at 177.165 and Denny Hamlin at 176.440. Johnson slipped to eighth at 175.533.

Pole-winner Kurt Busch was seventh in the opening practice and 13th in the final session.

Juan Pablo Montoya, who will have to start last after blowing an engine in Friday’s qualifying was 19th and 17th, respectively.

Momentum

Last year, Matt Kenseth won two of the last four races before the Chase, including California, and appeared to have the most momentum heading into the championship run.

“We went into the Chase and ran absolutely horrible,” Kenseth said. “We were really consistent, but we ran terrible. I don’t know if I buy into that (momentum theory). You’ve got to prove yourself every week.

“I don’t think it matters what happened last week; you’ve got to do it this week.”

By the way, the 2003 Cup champion did finish second to Johnson in 2006.

Hot stuff

The heat wave that has brought triple-digit temperatures to parts of Southern California for the past few days has thrown an apparent monkey wrench into California Speedway’s hopes to boost its attendance for the Labor Day Weekend race.

The high at the track Friday was 104, climbing to 105 on Saturday and nobody is expecting much of a walk-up sale Sunday with the forecast for the 5 p.m. start of the race calling for sunny skies and the temperature “dropping” to 99 degrees.

“I give the people who have been coming out here and sitting in this heat a lot of credit,” said Kurt Busch. “I like the heat — I grew up in Las Vegas — but I’m not sure I could sit out there in these temperatures.”

Since 2004, when NASCAR added a second Cup race at the track 60 miles east of Los Angeles, the track has been unable to sell all of its 92,000 grandstand seats for any of the NASCAR events.