JTG Daugherty Racing signs ConstructionJobs.com for three Nationwide races
CORNELIUS, N.C. – Michael McDowell has received three races of additional Nationwide Series sponsorship from ConstructionJobs.com, but he and JTG Daugherty Racing co-owner Tad Geschickter say the No. 47 team is still looking for funding for the rest of the season.
“We really are trying everything we can to make it to the end [of the season], and this is just one step further to get to that point,” McDowell said Wednesday following the announcement. “We’re going to grow the program as quickly as we can, but, hopefully, we can finish out the season. … It’s a matter of us doing a good job on the track and off the track.
“If we can grow ConstructionJobs.com to what we think it will be, then we will be able to do a lot more races.”
The sponsor will be on board McDowell's car for upcoming races at Dover, Nashville and Milwaukee. The Web site also will be an associate sponsor on the team’s Sprint Cup entry for Marcos Ambrose for two races and a sponsor of development driver Coleman Pressley’s Late Model car. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“With all of the improvements to the site that we are making, the timing couldn’t be better,” said Charlie Kimmel, president of ConstructionJobs.com. “Our consistent goal is to serve the construction industry, and nobody is better suited to help us in that endeavor than the team at JTG Daugherty Racing.”
JTG Daugherty continues to have sponsorship from Tom’s and Pacific Packaging Group for its Nationwide program, which Geschickter said is a priority for him to run all this year and in future seasons to develop drivers such as McDowell, Pressley and Kelly Bires, for whom the team also is still looking to find sponsorship.
“We’re really committed to continuing to develop drivers,” Geschickter said. “We’ve got to become a multicar Cup team, and the best way to do that is to leverage the Nationwide Series as a platform, as we did with Marcos to learn, be around these tracks and learn from the best.”
McDowell is 11th in the Nationwide standings, three points out of 10th and 110 points out of eighth.
“I really feel like if we get consistent being in the top 10, [getting] top-fives, then that will give us an opportunity to win races, and if we can do that, that is great for our race team and changes the outlook for your career,” McDowell said. “We need to continue to develop our marketing partners. Right now, we’re trying to run on a pretty tight budget.
“To compete with the Cup teams that we’re competing with on the Nationwide level is pretty amazing. When you look at the top 10 in points, for us to be hunting around there against the guys we’re going against is pretty impressive.”
If McDowell runs the rest of the season, he will have a teammate for the race in Montreal where Ambrose will drive for JTG Daugherty as well. Ambrose has been in contention to win the first two Montreal races, and both Ambrose and McDowell grew up racing on road courses.
Geschickter said if the team runs one car at Montreal, Ambrose would be in the 47, but he hopes to run the No. 47 with McDowell and the No. 59 with Ambrose.
“I never say this in racing, but I feel like Montreal owes us one,” Geschickter said. “I think we’ve had it won twice, and we didn’t bring it home. It gives us two chances for the money.”
