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NASCAR Nationwide Series
NNS: Whitt To Take No. 88 Seat For JR. Motorsports
Cole Whitt moves from the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series to the Nationwide team of JR Motorsports'...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted January 04, 2012   Charlotte, NC
Cole Whitt is looking forward to racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. (Photo: Getty Images)
NASCAR’s silliest Silly Season ever continued Wednesday afternoon with the announcement that Cole Whitt will replace Aric Almirola behind the wheel of the No. 88 JR Motorsports NASCAR Nationwide Series Chevrolet for 2012.

Wednesday morning, Almirola was tapped to drive the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports NASCAR Sprint Cup Ford this season.

Whitt, who is just 20 years old, is considered one of the sports rising young stars.

In 2011, the Alpine, Calif., native finished ninth in points in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, where he earned one pole, two top-five and 11 top-10 finishes.

“Cole is the guy we wanted, and we’re lucky to get him,” JR Motorsports co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. said in a statement released by the team. “He’s got raw, untapped talent, but we are most impressed with his ambition. I sought advice and input from people I respect in the industry, and the overwhelming consensus was that Cole has the potential to do great things in this sport.”

This season, JR Motorsports will field two full-time entries and one part-time NNS car: Whitt (No. 88) and Danica Patrick (No. 7) will be the team’s full-time drivers, with Whitt running for Sunoco Rookie-of-the-Year honors and both racing for the series championship. Earnhardt will run the No. 5 Chevy in what the team is calling “select races,” including the series opener at Daytona International Speedway Feb. 25.

“This is a big opportunity for me, and I’m happy to be a part of the JR Motorsports team,” said Whitt. “I’m grateful to Dale, Kelley and everyone at JR Motorsports for giving me this chance. It’s an honor to work with the Eurys, and I will do everything in my power to put this No. 88 team where it belongs in Victory Lane.”

Whitt got his start racing karts, winning eight International Karting Federation championships and two World Karting Association grand national championships. He was the Hoosier Sprint Car Rookie of the Year in 2006 and earned 34 top-10 finishes in 60 USAC starts in 2007 before winning the championship in 2008, when he became the youngest title winner in series history.

He raced in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East in 2010, winning two poles and finishing fourth in points in his first year.

The team also announced that it hired Bruce Cook as crew chief for the No. 5 Chevy that Earnhardt will drive. Cook was crew chief at Kevin Harvick Inc. last season, as well as the winning crew chief of the Nationwide Series season-opener at Daytona in 2011 with Tony Stewart.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
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