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By David Caraviello
He didn't tuck in his shirt when he appeared before the cameras to announce his impending split with Dale Earnhardt Inc. He didn't tuck in his shirt for the news conference announcing his new five-year contract with Hendrick Motorsports. But when it came time to announce driver and sponsor extensions for his own Busch team, there was the notoriously scruffy Dale Earnhardt Jr., with a crisp, white shirt tucked neatly into a pair of pressed dark pants.
It's a concession that likely had to do with the presence of officials from the U.S. Navy, which is backing the No. 88 car of driver Brad Keselowski at JR Motorsports, and likes things to be spic-and-span. But it also says something of the affinity NASCAR's most popular driver has for his burgeoning enterprise on what will become the Nationwide Series next year. He may have 17 Nextel Cup wins, two Busch titles, a new contract with the sport's best team and a legion of passionate fans, but it's easy to see the pride he has in JR Motorsports, which started in 1999 with one employee. It's his baby, and it's grown up with him.
I think the things that we have done at JR Motorsports and the things that we have went through, our trials, have been just as much of a learning experience as anything else as a lot of the stuff that has been well publicized in the Cup Series with the changes we made there," said Earnhardt, who signed Keselowski to a two-year extension prior to the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. "The Busch Series can be a lot of work. There is a lot of attention and focus that it requires, so we have had our hands literally full all year long."
JR Motorsports has come a long way since it was a one-man operation run out of a shed on DEI's property. Founded as a marketing tool to help the then-Busch driver Earnhardt sell a few more T-shirts, it became a racing entity in 2002 when Earnhardt and a few friends built a street stock and entered it in 10 races at Concord (N.C.) Motorsports Park with driver T.J. Majors behind the wheel. Over the next two years the team traveled the country, participating in bigger Late Model events, before breaking into the Hooters Pro Cup series with driver Mark McFarland in 2005.
Late that same season, JR Motorsports made its Busch debut. Earlier this year, the team moved into a new, 66,000-square-foot shop in Mooresville, N.C. And beginning next year, JR Motorsports and Hendrick Motorsports will combine operations for the Nationwide Series, fielding a two-car squad based out of Earnhardt's shop. Thirty employees were shifted from Hendrick's main campus to JR Motorsports in the move, which effectively makes Earnhardt and new Nextel Cup owner Rick Hendrick business partners. Earnhardt will own one of the two cars -- Keselowski's No. 88 -- and his boss the other.
For Earnhardt, playing car owner brings about experiences very different from those he encounters in his day job. There's the presence of family, like mother Brenda Jackson, sister Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, and uncles Danny Earnhardt and Tony Eury Sr., all employees at the JR Motorsports shop. There's dealing with sponsors, which occasionally forces him to tuck in his shirt. There's the sometimes unfortunate duty of firing a driver; earlier this season, he cut Shane Huffman loose for wrecking too many racecars. And there's also the credibility he feels he receives by tackling his own business enterprise, something he can't get behind the wheel.
"I have learned a lot. There are so many things that you tackle, things you enjoy. The relationship with the Navy has been really fun. Working one-on-one as the owner with a sponsor was new to me. We have really enjoyed the relationship. I have learned a lot through the Navy and how that actually works and how you have the working relationship and compromising," Earnhardt said.
"With the drivers it has been challenging as well, an enjoyable challenge. Brad is a likeable young guy and we have a lot of things in common. We get along great. I want to see him succeed. That is sort of my motivation is to help to achieve whatever he wants to achieve and get to where he wants to go. I feel like the credibility I seek has been in respect from the community, whether it be my sponsors, the drivers and crew members that work for me and amongst the garage. It is great when you have guys come knocking on your door on Monday wanting to know if there are openings or opportunities for them to work in our program. That is a compliment for us every time it happens. It has been happening quite often."
Now, in addition to Keselowski, Earnhardt's stable also includes a Hooters Pro Cup car, a Late Model team headlined by Martin Truex Jr.'s cousin Curtis, and the Hendrick Busch entry that could feature Landon Cassill and an array of other drivers. Personally, his goal is to perform well enough that Keselowski merits a Cup ride -- but with a team other than JR Motorsports, which the owner has no plans to take to NASCAR's top level.
"Our ultimate goal right now is to stay in the Busch Series and to work there," Earnhardt said. "I enjoy that series. It is part of my history. It is part of me as a driver. That is where I hope to stay and enjoy a lot of success and be formidable for many years. We have aspirations to look further ahead than that. I think it would do an injustice not only to our partners such as the Navy, but ourselves, if we do not tackle the challenges we are facing now. We are still trying to become a successful team in the Busch Series. Until we are and have mastered and seem to be in control of that, we can then see what other places and opportunities we may have to grow. But that is definitely not even in the back of my mind right now."
Truthfully, he has more pressing interests. In addition to getting his team ready for the 2008 Nationwide Series, there's also the small matter of preparing for his ride in Hendrick's No. 88 Sprint Cup car. Tony Eury Jr., his crew chief, has been deep in preparation since October. Earnhardt, who hasn't won a race at NASCAR's top level since May of 2006, believes the pieces are in place for a breakthrough. But it won't be easy.
"I feel right now that Tony Jr. is very stressed out and has a lot on his mind. The last couple of months, since going to work there, the information has just been crammed into his brain," he said. "He could use a vacation. He knew when we signed on that we were going to kind of have to up our program a little bit, up our efforts. Jeff [Gordon] gave me a little bit of advice at the end of the season, that the work ethic might be a little more intense than I was accustomed to as a driver. For the crew chief, it's probably the same. Tony Jr. talks of 7 o'clock meetings every [morning]. He seems really stressed to me. His mentality is positive and focused, like he's going after it and attacking it. But you can tell he's in a new environment. There's just a little more going on that he's got to get in tune with."
He didn't tuck in his shirt when he appeared before the cameras to announce his impending split with Dale Earnhardt Inc. He didn't tuck in his shirt for the news conference announcing his new five-year contract with Hendrick Motorsports. But when it came time to announce driver and sponsor extensions for his own Busch team, there was the notoriously scruffy Dale Earnhardt Jr., with a crisp, white shirt tucked neatly into a pair of pressed dark pants.
It's a concession that likely had to do with the presence of officials from the U.S. Navy, which is backing the No. 88 car of driver Brad Keselowski at JR Motorsports, and likes things to be spic-and-span. But it also says something of the affinity NASCAR's most popular driver has for his burgeoning enterprise on what will become the Nationwide Series next year. He may have 17 Nextel Cup wins, two Busch titles, a new contract with the sport's best team and a legion of passionate fans, but it's easy to see the pride he has in JR Motorsports, which started in 1999 with one employee. It's his baby, and it's grown up with him.
I think the things that we have done at JR Motorsports and the things that we have went through, our trials, have been just as much of a learning experience as anything else as a lot of the stuff that has been well publicized in the Cup Series with the changes we made there," said Earnhardt, who signed Keselowski to a two-year extension prior to the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. "The Busch Series can be a lot of work. There is a lot of attention and focus that it requires, so we have had our hands literally full all year long."
JR Motorsports has come a long way since it was a one-man operation run out of a shed on DEI's property. Founded as a marketing tool to help the then-Busch driver Earnhardt sell a few more T-shirts, it became a racing entity in 2002 when Earnhardt and a few friends built a street stock and entered it in 10 races at Concord (N.C.) Motorsports Park with driver T.J. Majors behind the wheel. Over the next two years the team traveled the country, participating in bigger Late Model events, before breaking into the Hooters Pro Cup series with driver Mark McFarland in 2005.
Late that same season, JR Motorsports made its Busch debut. Earlier this year, the team moved into a new, 66,000-square-foot shop in Mooresville, N.C. And beginning next year, JR Motorsports and Hendrick Motorsports will combine operations for the Nationwide Series, fielding a two-car squad based out of Earnhardt's shop. Thirty employees were shifted from Hendrick's main campus to JR Motorsports in the move, which effectively makes Earnhardt and new Nextel Cup owner Rick Hendrick business partners. Earnhardt will own one of the two cars -- Keselowski's No. 88 -- and his boss the other.
For Earnhardt, playing car owner brings about experiences very different from those he encounters in his day job. There's the presence of family, like mother Brenda Jackson, sister Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, and uncles Danny Earnhardt and Tony Eury Sr., all employees at the JR Motorsports shop. There's dealing with sponsors, which occasionally forces him to tuck in his shirt. There's the sometimes unfortunate duty of firing a driver; earlier this season, he cut Shane Huffman loose for wrecking too many racecars. And there's also the credibility he feels he receives by tackling his own business enterprise, something he can't get behind the wheel.
"I have learned a lot. There are so many things that you tackle, things you enjoy. The relationship with the Navy has been really fun. Working one-on-one as the owner with a sponsor was new to me. We have really enjoyed the relationship. I have learned a lot through the Navy and how that actually works and how you have the working relationship and compromising," Earnhardt said.
"With the drivers it has been challenging as well, an enjoyable challenge. Brad is a likeable young guy and we have a lot of things in common. We get along great. I want to see him succeed. That is sort of my motivation is to help to achieve whatever he wants to achieve and get to where he wants to go. I feel like the credibility I seek has been in respect from the community, whether it be my sponsors, the drivers and crew members that work for me and amongst the garage. It is great when you have guys come knocking on your door on Monday wanting to know if there are openings or opportunities for them to work in our program. That is a compliment for us every time it happens. It has been happening quite often."
Now, in addition to Keselowski, Earnhardt's stable also includes a Hooters Pro Cup car, a Late Model team headlined by Martin Truex Jr.'s cousin Curtis, and the Hendrick Busch entry that could feature Landon Cassill and an array of other drivers. Personally, his goal is to perform well enough that Keselowski merits a Cup ride -- but with a team other than JR Motorsports, which the owner has no plans to take to NASCAR's top level.
"Our ultimate goal right now is to stay in the Busch Series and to work there," Earnhardt said. "I enjoy that series. It is part of my history. It is part of me as a driver. That is where I hope to stay and enjoy a lot of success and be formidable for many years. We have aspirations to look further ahead than that. I think it would do an injustice not only to our partners such as the Navy, but ourselves, if we do not tackle the challenges we are facing now. We are still trying to become a successful team in the Busch Series. Until we are and have mastered and seem to be in control of that, we can then see what other places and opportunities we may have to grow. But that is definitely not even in the back of my mind right now."
Truthfully, he has more pressing interests. In addition to getting his team ready for the 2008 Nationwide Series, there's also the small matter of preparing for his ride in Hendrick's No. 88 Sprint Cup car. Tony Eury Jr., his crew chief, has been deep in preparation since October. Earnhardt, who hasn't won a race at NASCAR's top level since May of 2006, believes the pieces are in place for a breakthrough. But it won't be easy.
"I feel right now that Tony Jr. is very stressed out and has a lot on his mind. The last couple of months, since going to work there, the information has just been crammed into his brain," he said. "He could use a vacation. He knew when we signed on that we were going to kind of have to up our program a little bit, up our efforts. Jeff [Gordon] gave me a little bit of advice at the end of the season, that the work ethic might be a little more intense than I was accustomed to as a driver. For the crew chief, it's probably the same. Tony Jr. talks of 7 o'clock meetings every [morning]. He seems really stressed to me. His mentality is positive and focused, like he's going after it and attacking it. But you can tell he's in a new environment. There's just a little more going on that he's got to get in tune with."
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