NNS: Garage Support Helped Convince Junior To Hire Whitt

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NNS: Garage Support Helped Convince Junior To Hire Whitt

Dale Earnhardt Jr. decided to give Cole Whitt a chance after hearing others' positive reviews of the young driver...

Bob Pockrass | http://www.scenedaily.com | Posted January 14, 2012 Daytona Beach, FL

Cole Whitt will drive for JR Motorsports in 2012. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

When Dale Earnhardt Jr. hired Brad Keselowski to drive for JR Motorsports five years ago, he had watched him race for a long time.

The same couldn’t be said for his new driver, Cole Whitt. Earnhardt Jr. had barely seen him race.

But when Earnhardt Jr. had an open seat at JR Motorsports for a full-season Nationwide Series ride, he began to hear from people that he didn’t even know had his phone number.

“Everybody who works in that garage in there that has my phone number called me and told me Cole was the guy,” Earnhardt Jr. said Thursday at Daytona International Speedway. “Every one of them.

“People I don't even talk to, people that I don't really have relationships with took time out of their day to call me and say, that's the guy you need to hire. … And the ones that I reached out to, that was the first guy on their list.”

So Earnhardt Jr. has put his trust in all those people. He hired Whitt last week to replace Aric Almirola, who left the team for a Sprint Cup ride at Richard Petty Motorsports.

Earnhardt Jr. likes giving drivers opportunities as long as the sponsorship is there.

“From what I can tell, what I can see, he deserves an opportunity,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “This might be his only opportunity, so I wanted to be the one to give it to him.”

Whitt finished ninth in the Camping World Truck Series standings in 2011 and qualified for the final two Cup events of the season for Red Bull Racing.

Earnhardt Jr. could have put a more proven driver in his car but he liked what he heard about the 20-year-old Whitt.

“I feel like in the guys that we looked at, we sort of know what kind of hand and cars they had and what kind of talent they had and where they would take us,” Earnhardt Jr. said about those he bypassed. “And I think it's more exciting – a lot more risky but more exciting – to go with a guy who you don't really know what he's capable of and could be big things.

“But you've just got to take that risk. And that's really why I do it. I don't do it to make money. I don't have a whole lot of other reasons to be in the Nationwide Series other than just to help somebody.”

In the last three years, JR Motorsports has had two drivers move onto Sprint Cup – Keselowski and Almirola.

“It's funner to help the new guy than it is to help the guy that's kind of been through the ringer a few times,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “Everybody deserves their opportunity, and I just feel like that was going to be Cole's only shot.”

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