Dale Earnhardt Jr. says ‘struggling’ JR Motorsports adds sister, cousin as part-owners
Tony Eury Jr. (left) talks to Dale Earnhardt Jr. earlier this year. The two are now partners, along with Kelley Earnhardt and Rick Hendrick, in ownership of the JR Motorsports Nationwide organization. // David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
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LAS VEGAS – Dale Earnhardt Jr. said his JR Motorsports team that fields two cars in the NASCAR Nationwide Series is “struggling as a company” to find sponsorship, a situation he called “dire.”
Earnhardt Jr., speaking after the NASCAR NMPA Myers Brothers Awards ceremony on Thursday, made the revelations during a nearly 30-minute interview session with reporters in which he also announced that cousin Tony Eury Jr. and sister Kelley Earnhardt had joined he and Rick Hendrick as part-owners of the team.
JR Motorsports had named Kelly Bires to replace the departed Brad Keselowski in the team’s flagship No. 88 car, but Earnhardt Jr. said the car currently only has enough sponsorship to run half the season.
“We really want to give Kelly a great opportunity and I’d love to put him on the race track every week, but right now we can’t say we can do that,” Earnhardt Jr. said.
Earnhardt Jr. said the team has been in negotiations with Danica Patrick to run a partial schedule in the No. 5 car, but even a deal with the Izod IndyCar Series star wouldn’t solve JRM’s problems.
Currently, the No. 5 car has sponsorship to run just four races – all with Earnhardt Jr. in the car, he said.
“We’ve got irons in the fire, but we’ve had irons in the fire for months,” he said. “I’m a little worried about that. I’d like to run [the 88 car the] full season next year. I think the Nationwide Series is better with that car running a full season next year. But the possibilities of that happening do not look really good right now.
“It’s very unfortunate. We’re working to try to find opportunities for our team to race. We’ve met with over half-a-dozen drivers in the last six months to try to find packages and potential in not only talent but sponsor money to keep 100-plus employees employed throughout next season.”
Earnhardt Jr. previously co-owned JRM with Sprint Cup owner Hendrick, with the two each holding a 50 percent stake in the company.
Now, Earnhardt Jr. has added his sister and Eury – who had been his Cup crew chief until being replaced last spring – to the ownership roster.
The sport’s most popular driver said it helps his peace of mind to know that Kelley Earnhardt – who runs JRM – and Eury are sharing the load.
“It takes a lot of the pressure off for me to sort of slide some of the chips over to Tony Jr. and Kelley’s table,” he said. “I feel better that there’s people in my corner facing the same situation.”
Along those lines, Eury will also likely provide an immediate benefit to JRM by crew chiefing the No. 5 team. Previous crew chief Brian Campe was released after Earnhardt Jr. discovered he was looking for other jobs.
“I wanted to keep Campe... and tutor Campe because he’s a brilliant man – young kid, but he’s got so much potential,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I wanted him to be where he was with Tony Jr.’s help to learn those things he was missing as a crew chief. He was looking around and that’s a no-no in my opinion, so we went ahead and let him go.”
Campe ultimately landed at Penske, which left JRM with a $150,000/year position to fill – a salary which Earnhardt Jr. said would be difficult for the team to afford. That’s why it’s likely Eury will step in.
“So I’ll be working with Tony Jr. next year,” Earnhardt Jr. said, recalling a reunion between the cousins who often clashed in the Cup series.
Earnhardt Jr. would not say how much of an ownership percentage his sister or Eury now had but said Eury was welcome to stay as long as he wanted before returning to Cup.
“I told you guys [in the media] how much Tony Jr. meant to me, I told you how much I loved him, I told you guys year after year how big a deal he was to me and how he’s family,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “Do it for a year, do it for six months, do it for [freaking] 10 years, I don’t care.”
