DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - History is important to Mark Martin, and stepping into the No. 8 Chevrolet has gained added significance for the longtime NASCAR star.

After Dale Earnhardt Jr. decided in May to leave the family team to join Hendrick Motorsports this season, DEI announced Martin would share the No. 8 with rookie Aric Almirola in 2008.

“When I think about driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc. and the No. 8, the first picture that comes into my mind is the mid-1980s, Dale Earnhardt driving the No. 8 Dale Earnhardt Inc. Late Model Sportsman owned by him and Teresa Earnhardt,” Martin said.

“Dale was a fierce competitor and he gave me some driving lesson in that race car, with his hands and with his bumper. So, heck yeah, it has significance. I’m very proud to be a part of that organization.”

Ironically, becoming part of DEI was not in Martin’s master plan.

After spending 18 years driving for Jack Roush, Martin wanted to cut back to a part-time schedule in 2007. Roush needed only full-time drivers, so his longtime employee and friend wound up at Ginn Racing, driving Chevys instead of Fords. Then Ginn Racing was absorbed by DEI.

“Dale and I were not good friends,” Martin said Thursday during the annual media day at Daytona International Speedway. “We were great competitors and we got along well. We had tremendous respect for one another. We didn’t go out to dinner together, but we had great respect, and I feel that I give that respect back to the company that he built.”

Slideshow   The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos

Earnhardt Jr., who decided to leave the team after some difficult and often bitter negotiations with the current owner, his stepmother Teresa Earnhardt, said Friday he still has great affection for DEI and the No. 8 that he left behind at the end of 2007.

“It’s just a part of my life and I’ll always appreciate that,” Junior said. “I’ve got all those memories, whether they be on video or film and I look at them all the time.”

Earnhardt said he couldn’t think of a better driver to replace him in the No. 8.

“I’m a Mark Martin fan from when he was racing the No. 2 back in Nashville,” Earnhardt said. “I remember when he came over to my dad’s house with a couple of tapes from his races in Nashville and played them on a Beta VCR. We watched those races and he was trying his hardest to show my dad how good a race car driver he was. He was trying hard to get a good ride.

“So, you talk about history, that’s ambition for you. Mark had a long, long way to get there and I can appreciate that. He’s earned it.”

Almirola also will drive No. 8 this year, and said he can hardly believe it.