CHARLOTTE, North Carolina – Dale Earnhardt Jr., one of the newest owners in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series won’t rule out the possibility of competing in an actual truck race himself, if the schedule allows.
JR Motorsports after claiming their first NASCAR XFINITY Series championship this past season with driver Chase Elliott purchased assets from the now defunct Turner Scott Motorsports to field an entry for NASCAR Next driver Cole Custer in 10 races this season.
With Custer’s age handicapping him from racing in more events, Earnhardt isn’t ruling out himself running a race to help strengthen his newest business endeavor.
“I’d love to run a truck race this year, I think I’ll make that decision once the year gets going,” said Earnhardt.
Still Earnhardt seemed reluctant about making a firm commitment, not wanting to steer away from his responsibilities in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Hendrick Motorsports with new crew chief Greg Ives.
“As an owner of a truck team, I’d definitely love to get behind the wheel. I’ve been interested in running a truck for a long time, we’ll just have to see how the weekend schedules look. When I run an extra race like that I kinda like it to work where it doesn’t affect the Cup stuff too much.
“I don’t like going back forth from garage to garage to garage where I can’t spend some time with Greg (Ives). I don’t want it to be where Greg 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.”
Earnhardt said the decision to build a truck team based in Mooresville, North Carolina came at the opportunity to work with the youngest winner in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series history, but also help manufacturer Chevrolet continue a healthy presence in the series since Turner Scott Motorsports, once a championship team is now completely dissolved.
“Well, basically It was just an opportunity to work with Cole and also to strengthen our relationship with Chevrolet,” Earnhardt said. “Chevrolet is a big influence on this particular truck team and it was great to be able to strengthen that relationship. Chevrolet – Cole Custer, everything kinda came together.”
He added, “We’d love to grow this truck series team. This is a nice little sample size for us to start small and get introduced to it in a real easy manner and kinda not jump in head first.”
Earnhardt admitted that he’s taken interest in Custer, a Haas Development driver before the team’s January 12 announcement, but now pairing NASCAR’s most popular driver with one of the sports’ next protégés could lead to even bigger and better things.
“We’ve been looking at Cole as a possibility down the road for us in the XFINITY Series if he continues to grow and excel, so this starts that relationship early.”
With the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teetering on shaky grounds, adding Earnhardt to the ownership platform can certainly bring some stability into the series not only from a manufacturer standpoint but from a sponsor’s perception too.
But even Earnhardt admits entering a new league isn’t easy and he’ll rely on his fellow Sprint Cup Series competitors and truck owners Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski for advice.
“It’s a very huge challenge to break into a new series; kinda of a start-up team going,” Earnhardt added. “I like how we’re doing this in an easy fashion. I’ve talked to Kyle (Busch) a little bit about it. I’ll definitely pick his brain a lot about the business side of it and some of the shortcuts I may be able to take, I’ll do the same thing with Brad (Keselowski) having a good relationship with both those guys.”
JR Motorsports is scheduled to make its NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut at Martinsville Speedway on March 28. Custer’s No. 00 will carry sponsorship from Haas Automation.
Joe Shear Jr. who aided Custer to his victory at New Hampshire last September will serve as crew chief.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
