KANSAS CITY – “It will probably be next year.”
Any hopes of seeing Dale Earnhardt Jr. compete in a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race this season won’t happen according to NASCAR’s most popular driver.
During his media availability Friday morning at Kansas Speedway, Earnhardt said that he doesn’t plan to compete for his JR Motorsports’ truck team this season, but remains hopeful to make a start next year at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
“I love Martinsville,” said Earnhardt the most recent NASCAR Sprint Cup Series winner at Talladega Superspeedway. “Watched the Truck race there this year in the pit stall and just wanted to be out there. It just looks like a lot of fun. Of course, we always enjoy that track.”
In January at the annual Charlotte Media Tour, Earnhardt Jr. discussed that he would like to compete in a truck race this season, particularly at a track like Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, where the event is short, the route between garages was relatively easy and the schedules were flexible.
“I don’t like going back forth from garage to garage to garage where I can’t spend some time with Greg,” Earnhardt told CATCHFENCE.com in January. “I don’t want it to be where Greg (Ives, crew chief) doesn’t see me and can’t be available for whatever he needs. Pocono or something like that seems like a simple schedule that might work. That’s an opportunity there.”
While Junior Nation will have to wait a little longer to see Earnhardt become the 233rd different driver to compete in all three of NASCAR’s national series, Earnhardt’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne was announced Wednesday to drive for JRM in next Friday night’s NCWTS race at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.
“Kasey (Kahne) has a hell of a track record in the Trucks,” added Earnhardt. “I think he is going to put a lot of pressure on himself. I’m not going to put any expectations on him. I just want him to have fun. He stepped up to drive the Truck. I just want him to go in there and have fun hopefully. I think it is going to be well prepared. Those Trucks have been real fast everywhere they have been. We will see how it goes. I think he is going to enjoy it and help that team especially being at the racetrack”
Statistics show that there may not be a better man to wheel the No. 00 Haas Automation Chevrolet Silverado in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 than Kahne. In five career truck starts, Kahne has four wins and worst finish of second at Pocono in 2010.
Kahne’s most recent truck race came in 2012 at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway where the 35-year old driver started at the rear of the field after competing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway the night before. Kahne cruised to a 1.478-second victory over Turner Scott Motorsports teammate James Buescher.
Earnhardt believes that Kahne’s prior success will be pivotal to keeping the team’s truck program steered in the right direction while they wait for JRM driver Cole Custer, the youngest winner in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series history to return to the seat later this month at Dover (Del.) International Speedway.
“As difficult as it is on Cole (Custer) to not be at the track and racing every opportunity he can get, it’s also as difficult for the team to sort of stay competitive and stay on the leading edge of the innovating things that are happening in the garage if you are not there every week,” Earnhardt said.
“It will help them to be at the track and learn some more things that they can apply to some races they run later on in the year. Hopefully, they can learn and have a good time, run a good race and maybe win the race if they can. But also learn and help Cole down the road.”
Custer who nearly pulled off a win in his JRM debut in March at Martinsville was announced Tuesday as a returning member of the NASCAR Next program.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
