JR Motorsports Nation

Pops Eury Gets Win for JR Motorsports with Jamie McMurray at Atlanta
By Sandra MacWatters
September 4, 2010

Jamie McMurray snatched a win from Kyle Busch with his JR Motorsports No. 88 Hellman's Chevy in the Great Clips 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

His crew chief, Tony Eury, Sr., kept adjusting on the car until it was capable of a win.

Kyle Busch was "fighting tight" throughout the race and hoped there would be a caution toward the end of the race to allow him to get a new set of tires. Busch always disappointed when he doesn't win, finished second.

Brad Keselowski finished 12th and retains a 332 point lead in the Nationwide series.

For McMurray, it was his first win in the NASCAR Nationwide series since 2004. The congratulatory call from his car owner, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., made the smile on his face even wider.

The last win for JR Motorsports was with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. behind the wheel of the No. 3 Wrangler tribute car at Daytona International Speedway in July.

It is evident McMurray is having a good year, having won the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400, but this Nationwide win is a boost for the popular driver and JR Motorsports.

McMurray ranks 13th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup point standings, 100 points out of 12th place going into the Sunday race at Atlanta.

JR Motorsports

JR Motorsports began in a shed on the property of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. in 1998 with just one employee, as the marketing division of Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s race team. The original intent of the business was to help Earnhardt, Jr. sell t-shirts and negotiate sponsorship deals.

It wasn't until 2002 that Earnhardt, Jr. turned the business into a race team. That's when T. J. Majors drove the first race, in the street stock division, at Concord Motorsports Park, in North Carolina.

The first win for the team came at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, VA, in 2004.

Today, in 2010, the team operates out of a 66,000-square-foot state of the art race shop near Mooresville, North Carolina. JR Motorsports' primary series is the NASCAR Nationwide Series, where they originally fielded the #88 for several drivers. Upon Earnhardt, Jr.'s signing with Hendrick Motorsports the Hendrick and JR Nationwide Series teams were merged. The #88 Chevrolet currently is sponsored by Hellmans, Unilever Brands, with Jamie McMurray behind the wheel.

JR Motorsports will also field Danica Patrick's #7 Go Daddy Chevrolet on a part time basis.

The #5 car is inherited from the Hendrick Motorsports' Busch Series stable, competing in the series since 1984. Shortly after Dale Earnhardt, Jr. signed with Hendrick Motorsports in the Sprint Cup Series, Hendrick Motorsports announced that it would merge its operations with the JR stable to field a two-car team with the #5 and the #88, starting in 2008, using Hendrick engines and chassies.

#5 Car History:

The #5 car won twice in 2008, with Mark Martin at Las Vegas and Ron Fellows in Montreal, the first NASCAR race run in wet conditions. The 5 car will run 21 races with Sponsorship from Fastenal, Go Daddy, Unilever, Degree, and Delphi. Dale Jr will drive 7 races, 2 for Go Daddy.com, 2 for Fastenal, 1 for Degree and 2 for Unilever( Daytona-Hellimans, Klondike at Lowes on may 23. Mark Martin will drive at Richmond May 1st with sponsorship from Lipton Ice Tea, Tony Stewart will drive at Lowes on October 16 with Delphi Sponsorship, Scott Wimmer will drive 6 races with Fastenal Sponsorship, the other 6 races with Fastenal sponsorship will be named at a later date.

#48 Car History:

Car #48 was driven by Jimmie Johnson at Watkin Glens in the 2008 race with Lowe's as the sponsor, driving it home 29.

#83 Car History:

Car #83 was fielded by JR Motorsports with driver and owner Dale Earnhardt, Jr. behind the wheel at Lowe's Motor Speedway on May 24, 2008. Earnhardt, Jr. drove the car home a 4th place finish.

#88 Car History:

The #No. 88 began the 2006 season driven by Mark McFarland, but he was replaced by Shane Huffman, with Martin Truex, Jr. and Robby Gordon filling-in for certain races. On Tuesday July 3, 2007 Dale Earnhardt Jr. released Shane Huffman from driving the #88 Navy Chevy for JR Motorsports.

Earnhardt, Jr. drove the #88 on July 6, 2007 in the Busch Series race at Daytona International Speedway. Brad Keselowski will replace Shane Huffman for three races, with "Road Course Specialist" and SCCA driver Andy Pilgrim to be in the car for the race in Montreal, and Watkins Glen.Brad Keselowski finished the season.

Keselowski signed a two year contract with JR Motorsports with the Navy returning as sponsor in 2008. Brad won his first race at Nashville Superspeedway on June 7, 2008.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will have to find a new sponsor for the #88 in 2009 as the Navy announced it would not be returning after the conclusion of the 2008 season. GoDaddy.com and Delphi will sponsor the #88 for a total of 24 races in 2009,Unilever will be sponsoring 11 races on the #88 Car. Degree will be sponsoring the car for 4 races in 2009.

Now in 2010 Kelly Bires will drive the #88 Unilever Brands Chevrolet for the rest of the season.

Tony Eury Sr.

Dale Jr has looked to his past for help running the company. In June 2007 Tony Eury was hired away from Dale Earnhardt, Inc to become Director of Competittion at JR Motorsports.

Eury was Junior's crew chief beginning when Junior first started in the Busch series. Together the 2 won 2 Busch championships before moving on to NASCAR's Cup series.

"Tony Sr. brings wins, championships, and an immeasurable amount of knowledge to JR Motorsports," Earnhardt Jr. said. "He also brings a sense of trust that you only have in family. This company needs his expertise, and I'm glad he sees the potential at JR Motorsports to want to work here. I hope I can provide him the same amount of success here that he has achieved over the years, and I hope he enjoys working here as much as I know he enjoyed working at DEI."

Eury had been a full time employee of DEI since 1987, and had worked with Dale Earnhardt both as a part-time employee and unpaid helper since 1976.

Before joining up with Dale Jr, Eury had been a crew chief for several Busch series drivers at DEI including Neil Bonnett, Michael Waltrip, Steve Park, and Dale Earnhardt.

"I remember Dale coming up to me and asking if I could make a driver out of Dale Jr.," Eury said. "My remark to him was I don't know why we can't. Why would you want to spend money on someone else's kid when you can spend money on your own kid?"

Eury now oversees competition and technical support at JR Motorsports, working closely with crew chiefs and team engineers from all racing divisions.

Sprint Cup Series and Future of JR Motorsports:

During a press conference at Lowe's Motor Speedway on May 16, 2008, Dale Earnhardt Jr. stated that once the Nationwide Series starts using the Car of Tomorrow chassis, which is set for an August, 2009 debut at the intermediate tracks, his Nationwide teams possibly will leave the Nationwide Series, due to the costs of switching cars. When asked if he will move JR Motorsports to the Sprint Cup Series, Earnhardt Jr. said that due to the Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup Series almost having the same expensive costs, he might move the team to the Sprint Cup Series as early as 2009 "if the right opportunity comes along with the right sponsorship and driver.

Other racing series;

JR Motorsports fields the No. 88 Racing Clubs of America Chevrolet Monte Carlo Late model driven by Curtis Truex. The No.72 Champion Spark Plug Chevrolet driven by Richard Boswell. The 06 Champion Spark Plug Chevy driven by Davin Scites. The No. 50 Southern Pipeing Chevy driven by Jamey Cadill. And the No.73 R and B Chevy driven by Owen Kelly.

Please vote for this Site here. By clicking on the various NASCAR top 50 sites buttons below, you increase my ranking on those ranking NASCAR sites, and you will see other interesting sites about NASCAR, and that's good right!



















































Web Stats





*******************************************************************************
Come visit my webring ,by clicking on the link below.

Powered by WebRing.

This site is a member of the Jr 88 Rules webring

To visit my Jr 88 Rules webring click on the Jr 88 Rules link
Jr 88 Rules.

JR Motorsports
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Hendrick Motorsports
Getty Images
Squidoo

This site is made by a JR Motorsports fan, and does not mean to infringe on anyones copyright. This is just a site for JR Motorsports fans, and in no way is associated with NASCAR, Dale Jr, Hendrick Motorsports, and JR Motorsports.


JR Motorsports is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.