DPR Sports & Racing News

JR Motorsports is a NASCAR team based in Moorsville North Carolina, co-owned by Dale Earnhardt, Jr, his sister Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, cousin and former crew chief Tony Eury, Jr, and the owner of his Sprint Cup ride Rick Hendrick. It currently fields the #7 GoDaddy.com/Tax Slayer Chevrolet Impala for IZOD IndyCar Series driver Danica Patrick, Josh Wise, and team owner Dale Jr. and the #88 Grand Touring Vodka/Unilever Chevrolet driven by Aric Almirola in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

How it began...

JR Motorsports began in a shed on the property of Dale Earnhardt, INC  in 1998 with just one employee, as the marketing division of Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s race team. The original intent of the business was to help Earnhardt, Jr. sell t-shirts and negotiate sponsorship deals.

 It wasn't until 2002 that Earnhardt, Jr. turned the business into a race team, when T. J. Majors drove street stock division at Concord Motorsport Park, in North Carolina. The first win for the team came at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, VA, in 2004.

Today the team operates out of a 66,000-square-foot  race shop near Mooresville, North Carolina. Upon Earnhardt, Jr.'s signing with Hendrick Motorsports the Hendrick and JR Nationwide Series teams were merged.

NASCAR Photo

History of #3 Car

JR Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing announced that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. would drive the #3 car at Daytona on July 2nd, 2010, with Wrangler sponsoring the car as a tribute to Dale and Kelley's late father, Dale Earnhardt, who was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame on May 11th, 2010. Earnhardt Jr. won the Subway Jalapeño 250 in the #3 car.

(NASCAR Photo)

History of #5 Car

This will be JR Motorsports' 3rd entry in 2011, with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. running a handful of races part-time.

History of #7 Car

See also: Hendrick Motorsports

The #7 car joined in 2008 as the #5 as part of the merger with Hendrick Motorsports' Nationwide teams. It was driven by seven drivers in 2008; Jimmie Johnson, Earnhardt, Jr., Martin Truex, Jr., Mark Martin and Landon Cassill as well as road course specialists Ron Fellows and Adrian Fernandez, with sponsorship from Lowe's, National Guard, Delphi, and Godaddy.com. The 5 car won twice in 2008, with Martin at Las Vegas and Ron Fellows in Montreal, the first NASCAR race run in wet conditions. The 5 car ran 21 races with sponsorship from Fastenal, GoDaddy.com, Unilever and Delphi in 2009. The team's best finish was a third with Earnhardt at Atlanta. Danica Patrick would drive about 12 races with JR Motorsports in with GoDaddy.com sponsorship as the #7 in 2010, and Earnhardt driving an additional four races. The schedule was filled out with Scott Wimmer, Landon Cassill, Steve Arpin, Josh Wise and J. R. Fitzpatrick driving on road courses. Patrick will run 12 races with GoDaddy.com and Wise will run 21 races, 6 with TaxSlayer.com on board, and Dale Jr. will drive at Talladega.

(NASCAR Photo)

History of #88 Car

The #88 debuted in 2005 at the Ford 300 with Mark McFarland driving with sponsorship from the United States Navy, qualifying eighteenth and finishing twentieth. McFarland was named the full-time driver and had a seventh-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway, but was replaced by Shane Huffman after twenty-one races, with Martin Truex, Jr. and Robby Gordon filling-in for certain races.

Huffman was hired as the full-time driver in 2007, and had two top-ten finishes before he was released from the ride as well. Brad Keselowski was hired to replace Huffman for three races, with SCCA driver Andy Pilgrim to be in the car for the race in Montreal and Watkins Glen. Brad Keselowski finished the season with five top-ten finishes signed a two year contract with JR Motorsports with the Navy returning as sponsor in 2008. He won his first race at Nashville Superspeedway and later picked up another win at Bristol Motor Speedway, finishing third in points but lost the Navy sponsorship. GoDaddy.com and Delphi Corporation sponsored the #88 for a total of 24 races in 2009, with Unilever sponsoring 11 races on the #88 car.

Keselowski won four races and finished third in points for the second consecutive season before leaving for Penske Racing. Kelly Bires started 2010 as driver of the #88 car, but was released on April 13 and replaced with Jamie McMurray (who won at Atlanta) and Elliott Sadler for ten races, along with Greg Sacks at Daytona, Arpin, Coleman Pressley, Earnhardt, Jr., and Ron Fellows on road courses.

Former Truck Series driver Aric Almirola will drive the #88 in 2011. (Photo Above)

Web Site: http://www.jrmracing.com/

JR Motorsports 2011 Nationwide Series

Danica Patrick shows the Go Daddy Colors again in 2011. Will run a part time schedule like last year. (NASCAR Photo)

For more information and photos, visit the Danica Patrick Page at:

http://danspitstopracing.com/jr_motorsports/danica_patrick

For More Past Dale Earnhardt, Jr Photos and information, visit the Dale Earnhardt, Jr Page at:

http://danspitstopracing.com/jr_motorsports/dale_earnhardt_jr_page