JR Motorsports is not considering is a move to the Sprint Cup Series. ‘No Cup plans,’Â team co-owner Kelley Earnhardt said on Wednesday. ‘No Kasey Kahne. No Mark Martin. Nothing for JR Motorsports. At this point, we would need to get started on that, and its definitely not in our future for 2011.’Â Instead, Earnhardt and her brother, Dale Earnhardt Jr., need to find sponsorship and drivers for their Nationwide Series cars for next year. She knows Danica Patrick will drive in 13 races in a GoDaddy.com-sponsored car and that Grand Touring Vodka will sponsor 15 races with a driver to be determined. But that doesnt even fill one full season for an organization that plans to have two Nationwide cars again next year. Kelley Earnhardt said the organization needs to know a little more about NASCARs plans to change the Nationwide Series rules to help promote younger drivers. She needs to know, she said, if there will be limits on Cup drivers and what programs are in place to help young drivers so the team can convince a sponsor to support an up-and-coming driver. ‘It would be nice to know specifically what were working with and what we can sell and do,’Â Kelley Earnhardt said. ‘In the environment that were in from the economic standpoint, it takes a personality to sell a sponsor. Performance and being up front and somebody they can market and somebody the consumer is going to recognize and want to be a part of whatever theyre doing is so important.’Â Sponsors are hesitant to go with a young driver, she said.(SceneDaily)(7-15-2010)
