#88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. from a weekly top 12 drivers press conference:
THE OWNERSHIP THING, WHEN YOURE OUT THERE RACING WITH BRAD KESELOWSKI, ARE THERE THINGS THAT GO THROUGH YOUR MIND AND ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT HIM OR ABOUT THE RACE? Well, I get mad when he messes up and I see him in a wreck or something. But normally I just hope hes doing what hes supposed to be doing and running good and having a good night. But his night doesnt go right or something happens to the car, its sort of bums you out a little bit and its hard to revert back to concentrating on what youre trying to do with your car.
IS THERE ANY CHANCE YOULL MOVE UP TO THE CUP LEVEL WITH THAT TEAM ANYTIME? I used to say no way, no way. But its almost as expensive to run in the Nationwide Series. And their going to bring a CoT in and we wont be able to race in the Nationwide Series with the CoT probably. Thatll just be too expensive to switch all that over.
WOULD YOU DO IT AS EARLY AS NEXT YEAR? Yeah, maybe. If the right opportunity comes along with the right sponsorship and driver, wed love to do it. And it would cost the same amount of money to do that, as it is to run the Nationwide Series. Its harder to get sponsorships. And the CoT program is going to be too expensive for me to justify creating a whole new program with CoT stuff, so Id just as soon go into the Cup Series or get out of the Nationwide Series altogether.
COULD YOU GET MARTIN TRUEX JR. IN THAT CAR? No. Why would he want to come drive for me? Hes in good stuff now and hes going to have great opportunities from other people. And I would never do that to him (laughter). For the first year coming out of the box, man well struggle like hell. Come on, man. Hes going to have deals offered to him by these great companies around here and from DEI. Ill be at the bottom of that list, right there with Haas and a couple of other people (laughter). I dont know with Tony (Stewart) if he goes over there (Haas), he might be able to talk Martin into it. But I dont know man. I mean no way would I even do that to Martin, even if he wanted to.(GM Racing PR)(5-17-2008)
UPDATE – Stewart? Tony Stewart, who is exploring options outside of Joe Gibbs Racing, reportedly could be a partner with JR Motorsports. But Stewart’s contract doesn’t expire until after the 2009 season and team president J.D. Gibbs has said he will hold Stewart to it. “I don’t know with Tony. If he goes over there [Haas CNC], he might be able to talk Martin into it. But I don’t know. I mean no way would I even do that to Martin, even if he wanted to.” Stewart has acknowledged that Haas CNC is one of several organizations to have offered part ownership as an incentive to join the team. JR Motorsports merged with the Nationwide program at Hendrick Motorsports this year after Earnhardt went to drive for HMS. The engines and chassis already are supplied by Hendrick and that could continue with a move to the Cup series.(ESPN.com)(5-19-2008)
UPDATE 2: Last month Dale Earnhardt Jr. mentioned the possibility of moving his JR Motorsports Nationwide Series program up to the Sprint Cup Series. But since mentioning the possibility of moving his team up to the Cup level, Earnhardt has been asked seemingly weekly if its something he’s really pondering. Earnhardt basically told reporters Friday at New Hampshire International Speedway that he’s had enough of the questions. Asked where things stand with the possibility of moving his team up Earnhardt said: “I ain’t got much to say about it. We’re pretty happy running in the Nationwide Series. The car is running good and I’d like to keep that the way it is.” Earnhardt though seemed to lose his patience later in the group interview session when he was asked again about maybe moving his team. “I shouldn’t have said that man because I should have just kept that to myself because I really don’t want to talk about it in the press,” Earnhardt said. “That’s personal to me, what I do with my business and I’m damn sure ain’t going to air my timeline out over to the media. If we feel like we want to do that, we’ll do it. And we’ll let you know and that will be that. I don’t want to answer questions about it every week because it’s really not that big of an issue. My team is doing great. I’d be foolish to make too many changes right now. It would be smart to keep things how they are while they’re working.” (Hartford Courant)(6-27-2008)
