NNS: Rotating Rides Just Fine By Wise

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NNS: Rotating Rides Just Fine By Wise

Josh Wise is running a part-time schedule for JR Motorsports this season...

Jared Turner | Posted May 05, 2011 Charlotte, NC

Josh Wise doesn't know the exact number of starts he'll make for JR Motorsports this season. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Josh Wise is a man on the move in more than one way.

He’s moving up the Nationwide Series ladder all while moving back and forth between two teams that couldn’t be more different.

Not that shuffling around is anything new to Wise.

The 28-year-old has driven for nine different teams, including four in 2010 alone, since his Nationwide debut in 2007.

While Wise admits his situation has been tough at times, he’s mostly made the most of the opportunities. That’s especially been true in the last two races, where he’s posted a pair of top-10 finishes highlighted by a sixth last weekend at Richmond.

Those results came in the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet that Wise is sharing primarily with Danica Patrick this season. Patrick, however, is slated to drive the car whenever her IZOD IndyCar Series schedule allows, leaving Wise to look elsewhere in those races.

Elsewhere for Wise has been the single car Go Green Racing team, which employs just two or three crew members at its shop and utilizes volunteer crewmen for races.

Not surprisingly, Wise hasn’t been nearly as strong in his starts with Go Green as JRM, a top-tier Nationwide organization co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Rick Hendrick among others.

Wise’s best finish in five starts this year with Go Green has been a pair of 18th-place outings.

Yet as the series prepares for Friday night’s Royal Purple 200 at Darlington Raceway, Wise finds himself a commendable 10th in the Nationwide driver standings. Not bad for a guy bouncing back and forth between two rides.

“It’s all good for me,” Wise said of his part-time gigs. “I’m really just grateful to get the opportunities I get for the most part. It definitely makes it challenging. You’re working with different people and different teams and I’m trying to maintain relationships with a lot more people than it’s easy for me to maintain a relationship with. I’ve got multiple crew chiefs that I’m trying to talk to all the time, and you’ve always got to keep your guys pumped up and be a part of the deal.

“So I always try to go to my race shop and see my teams and stuff like that. So it just creates more to do as far as all that goes, but for me it’s just awesome. This year’s been great just because I’ve raced all the races and this is the first year I’ve started and raced every race.”

Wise expects to remain in the No. 7 car until Patrick’s return at Chicagoland Speedway in early June. He will than make select starts through the end of the season, jumping back in the No. 39 Go Green Racing car when he’s not in a JR Motorsports seat.

Wise figures he’ll make about 20 total appearances for JRM but doesn’t know the exact number. Nor does he really seem to care.

“I really haven’t had an opportunity like I have right now since I’ve been in the sport,” said Wise, who debuted with JRM in 2010. “I was at MWR (Michael Waltrip Racing) and I had a few decent shots where they put me in some good stuff but … it wasn’t like, ‘We’re going to go win this race.’ It was kind of always like, ‘Let’s get Josh experience.’ And the other stuff I’ve filled in with has been mostly last-minute.

“It’s all been great but the reality of it is I’ve never had an opportunity like I have right now with JR Motorsports. And it’s just so important to me personally to just do the best I can with it.”

When Josh Wise isn't racing for JR Motorsports this season, he's behind the wheel of the No. 39 Go Green Racing entry. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Despite the clear difference in resources from JRM to Go Green Racing, Wise is also thankful for what the latter outfit has afforded him.

“It’s definitely not a JR Motorsports or anything like that,” Wise said. “They’re just racers and they like to be there and they want to go there and be the best they can be, and they’re really in the early stages of building what they want that thing to be, so it’s good to kind of be a part of that and to help them out as much as I can. We’ve had a few good runs … which is actually pretty respectable for what we’re working on there for just getting off our feet.”

Thinking about this weekend’s race at Darlington is also helping keep Wise grounded. Last year marks the Riverside, Calif., native’s lone start at the notoriously treacherous 1.366-mile track, where he finished 34th after completing 81 of 147 laps in a car out of the underfunded Specialty Racing stable.

He’ll be in a JR Motorsports car this time, however.

“I’m just really excited about it and also just kind of unsure what to fully expect,” Wise said. “I have only one start there and that was just in a start-and-park deal last year, so I only have a handful of laps. I’m just excited to get there and really learn and to do good and do the best I can while I’m learning.”

Jared Turner is an Associate Editor for SPEED.com, covering NASCAR and Formula One, and is an Editor for TruckSeries.com. His professional motorsports writing career began in 2005.