Junior Looks Like a Cup Owner in ‘09

After saying it would never happen, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is looking at moving JR Motorsports, his Nationwide Series race team, to the next level in 2009. The reason is the still-called Car of Tomorrow, which is scheduled to run in the second-tier series full time next season. The accrued costs of switching three Nationwide cars to the new model make it more workable to run in the Sprint Cup Series, where sponsors are more eager to pay high dollars for greater exposure and a higher return for the buck.

Earnhardt Jr. would like his race team to join the top-level series by the start of next season if the pieces fit-i.e., if a proven driver emerges and if his handlers can land a backer with deep enough pockets. A top-of-the-line racer seems unlikely, as Junior sees his team’s first year at the Cup level as a season of struggles.

JRM started out as a small shop in Mooresville with minimal expectations in 2005. The program merged with Hendrick Motorsports at the end of last season as a package deal when Junior left Dale Earnhardt Inc. Earnhardt Jr. expanded to three cars in ‘08, the No. 88 Chevrolet driven full time by Brad Keselowski, the 83 that Junior occasionally drives, and the 5 car shared by Junior, Casey Mears, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Landon Cassill, Ron Fellows and Martin Truex Jr. The team has been stronger from the start and runs consistently up front in every race. It got its first victory in March when Martin won at Las Vegas, and ran all three cars for the first time last weekend at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

Ignoring the learning curve, a new twist has Tony Stewart becoming a partner with Earnhardt Jr. and driving for JRM next year if he gets out of his Joe Gibbs Racing contract-an unlikely event according to JGR president J.D. Gibbs. Stewart will not confirm discussions with Earnhardt Jr., saying only that Hass CNC racing is one of several racing organizations offering him limited partnership and a chance to drive for his own team. Unless further developments occur, a Stewart-Junior pact is more probable in 2010.

Driving for one race team while owning another is nothing new in NASCAR. Dale Earnhardt Sr. drove for Richard Childress Racing while he owned DEI. Junior could do the same with his arrangement, although HMS is co-owner of JRM, making a perceived conflict of interest minimal on Dale Jr.’s part.

If JRM moves up, what will other Nationwide teams do? And if Dale Earnhardt Jr. has trouble finding backers for his Nationwide program, what kind of financial shape are others in?

Since Truex Jr. won back-to-back Busch Series crowns in 2004-05, Cup regulars have dominated the series and remain the only true contenders for a Nationwide championship. Assuming Junior follows through and other teams follow suit, NASCAR may want to rethink pushing the COT on its “minor league” circuit so soon, or else make the series a true farm system for aspiring drivers. That would make profitability an issue, and Nationwide Insurance Co. could threaten to pull out.

Brian France has some very hard decisions ahead.

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