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CUP: JR Motorsports To Move To Cup
Written by: Tom Jensen   
05/16/2008 - 03:21 PM
Charlotte, N.C.
 
Brad Keselowski is the current Nationwide driver for JR Motorsports. (Robrt Laberge/Getty Images Photo) ยป More Photos

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said Friday that he plans to move his JR Motorsports NASCAR Nationwide Series team up to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, perhaps as early as 2009. But Earnhardt was emphatic that his old teammate and close friend Martin Truex Jr. would not be the pilot of a 2009 JR Motorsports Sprint Cup car.

Citing the rising cost of racing in the Nationwide Series and NASCAR’s plan to adopt a car of tomorrow in that series, Earnhardt said he’s ready to consider moving up JR Motorsports to the Cup level in 2009.

“If the right opportunity comes along with the sponsor and the driver, we’d love to do it,” Earnhardt said Friday at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. “It would cost the same amount of money as it does in the Busch (now Nationwide) Series. It’s harder to get (Nationwide) sponsorship and the COT program is going to be too expensive for me to justify creating a whole new program with COT stuff, so I’d just as soon go into the Cup Series.”

As for Truex, one of the most coveted free agents in the Sprint Cup 2008 class and one of Earnhardt’s best friends to boot, he will not be driving for JR Motorsports anytime soon. Because the team will have no owner Sprint Cup points whenever it does move up, whoever drives the car will have to make races on speed, a dicey proposition with a first-year Cup team.

Asked if he’d hire Truex, Earnhardt retorted, “Why would he want to come drive for me?
He’s in good stuff now and he’s going to have great opportunities with other people. I would never do that to him. The first year coming out of the box we’re going to struggle like hell. C’mon. I’d be at the bottom of that list, along with Haas (Haas-CNC Racing). … No way would I even do that to Martin, even if he wanted to.”

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

SPEED will televise the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race XXIV and the NASCAR Sprint Showdown live on May 17, as well as provide more than 90 hours of support programming prior to the event. Stay tuned to SPEEDtv.com for frequent updates on the history of the event and all the details about this year’s action.
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