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Whenever a charter rumor starts, fans immediately flock to one race team, hoping this team could jump up to the Cup Series, JR Motorsports. How close is that to actually happening? In a recent interview on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio, Dale Earnhardt Jr. expressed two ways he could enter the Cup Series.
Option one for JR Motorsports is likely the simplest way to get a charter outright. Bring in extra money to invest in a charter to make JRM a Cup Series team
Kelly [Earnhardt Miller] and I could bring in some financial support to acquire charters, and JR Motorsports becomes a Cup team. That’s kind of been the idea in our mind for the last several years.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
This is easier said than done. Last year, Live Fast Motorsports’ charter sold for $40 million, and prices will only go up as time passes. We’ve seen as many as five race teams reportedly interested in buying a charter, and the law of supply and demand could drive the price up even further. We discussed this issue JRM has in the article below.
This means JRM might have to find an alternate solution. Dale Earnhardt Jr. suggested “Investing” in a current Cup Series team. However, he stopped short of saying he would outright merge with a Cup Series team.
If I can’t own my own Cup [Series] race team, and run it as we do similar to JR Motorsports. My preference might be more to just invest in a single charter, one particular race car, where I would have some influence over that actual car on the race track and driver, sponsors, and be able to give influence, input, and activate and engage with that particular car. I don’t see myself becoming a part of an organization as a whole.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
This is an unorthodox method, but, it makes sense. Outright buying into a race team plus going in on a charter could cost as much, if not more, than just buying a charter outright. Plus, JRM has Rick Hendrick in the ownership group, who already owns one of the top teams in the sport.
As far as investing in a particular car, it has been done before. In 2002, Jeff Gordon invested in a 4th car at Hendrick Motorsports to make room for Jimmie Johnson, and Gordon became a co-owner of the car alongside Hendrick.
Since Dale Earnhardt Jr. wants to invest in a team rather than buy into one, he would likely need to find a fairly established team. A couple of teams could fit this bill.
One is Spire Motorsports, with which Rick Hendrick has a fairly deep alliance. Rajah Caruth drives in the Truck Series for the team with HendrickCars.com sponsoring. Maybe Earnahardt Jr. could consider investing in one of those cars, especially considering Carson Hocevar was, at one point, a favorite to land at JRM this season before signing for Spire.
JTG Daugherty Racing is probably the most likely candidate. They’re a Chevrolet team, and one of their owners, Tad Geshickter reportedly could be leaving. Earnhardt Jr. could fill in the hole that Geshickter potentially leaves, and Earnhardt Jr. could be a big name to help sell sponsors to.
It will be interesting to see if Dale Earnhardt Jr. actually goes this route. If he does, it would be a big story.
