R3 Motorsports Nationwide team could enter some Sprint Cup races this season
R3 Motorsports owner Robert Richardson Sr. said his team has entered the Daytona 500 and could compete in a handful of other NASCAR Sprint Cup races in the 2009 season.
R3 plans to compete full time in the Nationwide Series this year with drivers Robert Richardson Jr. and Ken Butler III, with sponsorship from Mahindra Tractors and Aaron’s rentals.
Richardson Sr. said his son has been approved for Cup tracks 2 miles and less in length, and the team has five Cup cars purchased from Dale Earnhardt Inc.
“We’re expecting the Cup fields to be short as well this year, so in addition to our Nationwide car fleet, we’ve got five ... cars sitting there ready to go,” Richardson Sr. said.
The team will watch car counts in Cup races throughout the year, and if the fields are small enough, R3 will enter.
Richardson Sr. said the team is talking to two veteran drivers about competing in the Daytona 500.
“If it looks like it’s going to be [a] weak [car count], then we’ll haul it out there,” Richardson Sr. said. “It pays so much to start that race. There’s no question that we’ve got the horsepower and the car to do it.
“If that doesn’t work out, then I’m going to look at the car count in California to see how many guys are going to haul all the way to the West Coast. If it looks like it’s not going to be that many, then that’ll probably be Rob [Richardson Jr.’s] first attempt to make a Cup race.”
Richardson Jr. has made 31 starts in what is now the Nationwide Series and has 23 starts in what is now the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
