After just missing the NASCAR XFINITY Series playoffs for the second consecutive year, the partnership between JGL Racing and Dakoda Armstrong is over.
Denver, N.C.-based JGL Racing announced in a statement Monday morning that Armstrong, 26, has been suspended from his driver duties with the team effective immediately due to a lack of sponsor payments.
The team’s No. 28 car will forgo this Saturday’s race at Dover (Del.) International Speedway as a result of the announcement.
The team’s second entry the No. 24 team will resume activity in the XFINITY Series after sitting out the past two races at Chicagoland Speedway and Kentucky Speedway respectively, as the team had not sold those races previously.
“We really hate that it has come to this,” JGL Racing owner James Whitener said in a release. “However, this business is driven by sponsorship and when payments aren’t made then we cannot continue to race out of our own pocket.
“I hate this for our race team as well as Dakoda. We all appreciate the effort he has put into the growth of JGL Racing and wish him nothing but the best of success moving forward.”
Armstrong moved to JGL in 2016 with majority support from Winfield United after two-full season with Richard Petty Motorsports.
During their tenure, the pairing tallied two top-five and three top-10s, including a career-best of third this July at Daytona International Speedway. Armstrong, a native of New Castle, Ind. fell just short of the 12-team XFINITY Series playoffs for the past two seasons – finishing 13th last year and ending this year’s result season 12th but was bumped from the grid after Jeremy Clements scored an upset win at Road America.
With nothing confirmed with the team’s primary No. 28 entry for the remaining six races this season, Whitener says the team will focus on its No. 24 Toyota which is confirmed to run the remainder of the XFINITY Series season with drivers Corey Lajoie and Dylan Lupton swapping duties.
“We will focus on finishing out the season with our programs on our No. 24 Toyota,” Whitener said. “We will explore future options for the No. 28 entry as well as focusing on finalizing programs for both cars for the 2018 season.”
Armstrong via a tweet Monday said he “was bummed” he would not be racing for the remainder of the year, but thanked the team for their hard work.
Bummed to not be running the rest of the year but I just want to thank everyone at @JGLRacing for their hard work all season.
— Dakoda Armstrong (@DakodaArmstrong) September 25, 2017
In 133 XFINITY races spanning six seasons, Armstrong has one pole, three top-five and eight top-10 finishes.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
