Dale Earnhardt Jr isn’t the only member of the family who will be making news this weekend at Dover International Speedway.
Jeffrey Earnhardt will be making his debut in NASCAR’s top touring series when he starts in Saturday’s Nationwide Series race.
The 19 year old is the grandson of the legendary Dale Earnhardt Sr. and has been picked by many as being talented enough to eventually compete alongside the stars in the top levels of NASCAR.
Earnhardt, whose father is Kerry, made his racing debut at Wythe Raceway in Virginia where he won the Wythe Raceway Hornet Division Rookie of the Year. He moved up to the Sportsman division at the Motor Mile Speedway in Radford Virginia. In 2006 General Motors chose him as a development driver.
Earnhardt had four top-5 finishes and six top-10's in 11 starts including a second place at Watkins Glen in the NASCAR Camping World East series in 2008. He was fifth in the standings as a rookie in 2007, finishing the season with five top-5 finishes in 13 starts.
He also won the 2007 NASCAR Busch Series East most Popular Driver Award. He finished fourth in the Camping World East/West Challenge in Iowa on May 17.
"I can't wait to make my start in the Nationwide Series and race at Dover," said Jeffrey Earnhardt. "Right now, I'm just working on getting comfortable in the car and getting some experience. I know there's some tough competition in Nationwide, so I'm looking forward to learning a lot from the guys in the field. I want to run a good race and get use to the car."
Earnhardt will drive a Chevy in Saturday’s event for Rick Ware Racing. The team is a joint effort between Rick Ware Racing and Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
Rick Ware Racing is providing on-track team support, management and sponsorship while DEI is providing the equipment.
"I've been working on this race car with my Dad for about a month, and it has really helped me understand how the car handles and what happens when different adjustments are made," said Earnhardt. "My Dad believes that you have to know how to build them to be able to drive them, and he's been teaching me that. He's also making me work on repairing them, so hopefully I won't do too much damage to this one.”
Earnhardt said he plans to run a partial Nationwide Series schedule this year depending on sponsorship. When Rick Ware made the announcement this past March he said that Jeffrey would make a total of 7 starts for the organization in 2009. He will also race in the Montreal Nationwide Series event, marking the first Earnhardt to race in Canada in one of the top three NASCAR Series’.
Kerry and Jeffrey will join Dale Earnhardt Jr as entries in the NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Atlanta in the Fall, marking the second time that three Earnhardt’s’ participated in the same event.
DEI is currently working on plans to run Earnhardt in a full DEI managed Nationwide Series car for 2010 has long as they can secure sponsorship.
"Right now, we're just focused on getting some experience and seat time, and I'm looking forward to working with potential sponsors to run a full season in Nationwide next year," said Earnhardt. "It would be great to be able to race for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. We all have to work hard and earn that opportunity."
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