JTG Daugherty Racing gets help from MWR
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – JTG Daugherty Racing hasn’t named a manufacturer for next season when it moves full time to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series from the Nationwide Series but the team was working out of a Michael Waltrip Racing hauler on Saturday at Kansas Speedway.
JTG Daugherty, which qualified on speed for Sunday's Cup race with driver Marcos Ambrose, had a hauler fire in June that destroyed one of its transporters. The team got some help from Richard Childress Racing when it qualified for the Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in late July.
“Richard was good enough to rent us some equipment at the Brickyard, and then Michael [Waltrip] was good enough to rent us some equipment here,” team co-owner Tad Geschickter said Saturday morning. “When we get to Atlanta [in late October], we’ll have to figure out what hauler we’ll work out of then.”
But could the team working out of a MWR hauler at Kansas be a sign of a potential affiliation and a move to Toyota?
JTG Daugherty currently fields Fords.
“Obviously we have a really good relationship with Michael Waltrip Racing,” Geschickter said. “At this point, we’re not ready to announce anything. But we know them better than most in the fact that we were able to go straight over there and borrow some equipment.”
Ironically, MWR driver Michael McDowell was one of two drivers who will miss Sunday's race after failing to qualify based on speed.
Geschickter also said that the team is talking with four potential sponsors for Kelly Bires and Coleman Pressley. Geschickter said he hopes that Bires could run a complete Nationwide schedule while Pressley would run a limited schedule. He said he would not resurrect the truck team.
