hearing that Marcos Ambrose and Little Debbie’s could be moving to Michael Waltrip Racing in 2009 and Ambrose would not run in the Cup Series for JTG Racing.(9-22-2008) UPDATE: JTG Daugherty Racing hasn’t named a manufacturer for next season when it moves full time to the 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 #47-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. 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.”(SceneDaily.com)(9-28-2008) UPDATE 2: JTG Daugherty Racing has signed what team co-owner Brad Daugherty called a “technical alliance” with Michael Waltrip Racing, and thus will field Toyota’ full-time in the Sprint Cup Series beginning in 2009. The deal will be announced formally Wednesday afternoon. Under the agreement, JTG/Daugherty receives the same chassis, engines and technological information-sharing that Waltrip gets through Toyota Racing Development. “This way we don’t come out of the box already behind,” said Daugherty, reached by phone Wednesday. “Actually, this puts us about two years ahead of where we would have been otherwise.” Daugherty, an ESPN NASCAR analyst, said the alliance includes the #47 team being housed under the MWR roof. Daugherty stressed there was still independence from MWR, however, saying it is not a merger and that the #47 is not a fourth Waltrip team. “We’ll work with Toyota Racing Development out of Costa Mesa [Calif.], and all their parts and pieces already flow through MWR,” Daugherty said. “It just makes sense for us to be in-house over [at MWR].” Marcos Ambrose will drive the #47 Toyota, with sponsorship from Little Debbie Snack Cakes and Clorox.(ESPN.com)(10-1-2008) UPDATE 3: JTG-Daugherty Racing announced it has chosen to field Toyotas during its inaugural Sprint Cup campaign in 2009, after forming a technical alliance with Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) and Toyota Racing Development (TRD). JTG-Daugherty, co-owned by Tad and Jodi Geschickter and former NBA All-Star and current ESPN broadcaster Brad Daugherty, will enter the #47 Toyota sponsored by primary sponsors, Kingsford Charcoal, Clorox Laundry and Household Products, and Little Debbie’s Snack Cakes. JTG-Daugherty will move its Sprint Cup operation into MWR’s 140,000-square foot facility in Cornelius, NC, and receive cars, engineering, mechanical and other technical support from MWR’s existing infrastructure. TRD will support the JTG-Daugherty team with engines from its Costa Mesa, California, facility, and vehicle engineering support from its Salisbury, N.C., facility. Frank Kerr has been named crew chief of the #47 car. Marcos Ambrose, a former Australian V-8 Supercar Champion, has been named driver of the #47 Sprint Cup entry. Michael Waltrip commented, “The alliance with Tad, Jodi and Brad happened because MWR has shown over the past few months that we can field a competitive product. This allows MWR to maintain the economies of scale we currently enjoy as a three-car team. We continue to invest in our development and this alliance helps keep the momentum we’ve gained in our fabrication and engineering departments this summer. We wanted to help Tad and Brad in their transition into NASCAR Sprint Cup ownership. If anyone can identify the hidden demons of a start-up team it is me. Having JTG-Daugherty operating in our shop helps our NAPA Toyota and our Aaron’s Toyota with David Reutimann. So this is one of the classic examples of win-win-win for everyone involved, most importantly JTG-Daugherty and MWR employees”. This alliance does not change MWR’s desire to run a fourth car in 2009. “This doesn’t change anything from our original plans as our sales team is working hard on securing sponsorship for another MWR Cup entry. And those plans currently include [Michael] McDowell. That’s the same position we were in before the JTG-Daugherty alliance was formed.”(JTG/MWR PRs)(10-3-2008)
