Earnhardt Ganassi Racing: Difference between revisions

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Template:NASCAR Owner Infobox Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (EGRFS) is a NASCAR team based in Concord, North Carolina, United States, owned by Dale Earnhardt's widow Teresa Earnhardt, Chip Ganassi, and Felix Sabates. This team was formed when Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and the NASCAR team of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRWFS) agreed to merge after both teams found it difficult to secure sponsorship.^[1] DEI continues to operate as the business entity of the Earnhardt family. Ganassi's other race teams, including its IndyCar Series teams, remain separate entities.

This organization currently fields two full-time Sprint Cup teams: The #1 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet for Jamie McMurray and the #42 Target Chevrolet for Juan Pablo Montoya. EGRFS is involved in a partnership with Front Row Motorsports that fields the #34 Taco Bell Chevrolet for John Andretti.

Dale Earnhardt, Inc. debuted in Winston Cup in 1996 as the #14 Racing for Kids Chevrolet, driven by Robby Gordon at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Jeff Green drove the car in two more races that year. The next year, Busch Series standout Steve Park drove the car in five races with the Burger King sponsorship. In 1998, the team switched numbers with car owner Richard Jackson with the car changing from #14 to #1, and receiving sponsorship from Pennzoil and Park making a bid for NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors. The team got off to a bumpy start after Park failed to qualify at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in just the third race of the year. The next week, Park broke his leg at a testing accident at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Two weeks later, the team hired three-time champion Darrell Waltrip to pilot the car while Park recovered from his injuries. Waltrip posted two top ten finishes in the car until Park made his return at the Brickyard 400, where he finished 35th following a crash. He posted two eleventh-place finishes and finished 42nd in points that year.

Park fared better the next year, posting 5 top 10 finishes and finishing 14th in points. In 2000, Park won his first two Bud Pole awards, and won his first race at his home track at Watkins Glen International Raceway. He finished 11th year in points. The race after Earnhardt's death in 2001, Park beat Bobby Labonte in a photo finish at North Carolina Speedway. But his career stalled when competing in a Busch Series race at Darlington Speedway, his steering wheel became disconnected from the steering column during a caution flag period and his car veered immediately left and was slammed into by the quicker-moving vehicle of Larry Foyt. He gradually recovered and returned, ironically, at the spring Darlington race in 2002. He has since struggled to maintain his career. Midway through 2003, he was released from the ride and was replaced by Jeff Green. (Park took over Green's old ride at Richard Childress Racing, who used to be Earnhardt's owner.) Both Green and Pennzoil left following the season, and the team moved to part-time status, occasionally popping up to field cars for two-time winner John Andretti.

The team ran a part-time schedule in 2005 with Martin Truex Jr. driving a Bass Pro Shops-sponsored car, and moved to full time status in 2006. On June 4, 2007, Truex scored his first career NEXTEL Cup victory in the #1 car at Dover International Speedway, in a COT race. Truex also made the Chase For the Nextel Cup that year, DEI's only representative and (to date) the last DEI car to qualify for the Chase. He did not return to Victory Lane in 2008 and failed to make the chase. At the end of 2009, he will leave the team for Michael Waltrip Racing to drive the #56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry. In 2010, Jamie McMurray will switch to the #1 team after Roush Fenway Racing trims down to 4 cars.

The #8 car started out in the NASCAR Busch Series as the #3 ACDelco Chevrolet driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 1998. Junior won championships in both 1998 and 1999 in the Busch Series in this car. In 1999, Earnhardt drove in 5 Winston Cup races in the #8 Budweiser Chevrolet, finishing in the top 10 once, leading one lap, and one DNF. (The number 8 had been previously used by Stavola Brothers Racing, who had ceased operation two years prior.)

In 2000, Junior made a full time jump to Winston Cup. Despite winning two poles and three races (including The Winston), Junior finished runner-up to Matt Kenseth for NASCAR Rookie of the Year. On July 7th 2001, he won his third race in the cup series, and his first restrictor plate race at the famed Daytona International Speedway following his father's death. On February 15, 2004, Dale won the Daytona 500, 6 years after his father won the 500. He went on to collect 5 more wins for the season. Though he failed to qualify for the Chase for the Cup in 2005, he rebounded in 2006 and qualified for the 2006 Chase for the Cup, where he finished 5th. Earnhardt, Jr announced on May 10, 2007, that he would not be returning to DEI for the 2008 season. On June 13, 2007, it was officially announced that Dale Earnhardt Jr. would be moving to Hendrick Motorsports for the 2008 season. On August 16, 2007 it was announced that during the transition to HMS, Dale Earnhardt would not retain the #8 car number^[2]. On September 12th it was announced that the 8 car would be shared by Mark Martin and Aric Almirola for the 2008 season, with the U.S. Army sponsoring. Martin left DEI following the season to drive the #5 car for Hendrick Motorsports, and the Army left following the season as well to sponsor Ryan Newman's #39 car for Stewart Haas Racing.

Almirola was signed to drive the #8 Guitar Hero World Tour Chevrolet for the full 2009 season, but the sponsorship only lasted 5 races. EGR announced following the Samsung/Radio Shack 500 that the operations of the #8 team were being suspended indefinitely due to lack of sponsorship for the team, which had been operating since the beginning of the season on a race-to-race basis. If EGR is able to find full-season sponsorship for the #8 at any point during the rest of the season Almirola will return to the car to drive it; however, EGR was said to be entering into negotiations with other NASCAR teams to have Almirola drive a part-time schedule for them, although Almirola has yet to return to Cup racing.

What is now the #42 car began as the #87 NEMCO Motorsports car owned and driven by Joe Nemechek. After he signed with SABCO in 1996, Sabates bought the majority ownership of the team, which debuted at the 1997 Daytona 500 as the #46 First Union Chevy driven by Wally Dallenbach Jr.. After skipping several races, the team moved to full-time racing. Dallenbach competed in 22 races and finished 41st in points. He only raced in four races in 1998 NASCAR Winston Cup Series1998 before he was replaced by a rotation of drivers including Jeff Green, Morgan Shepherd, and Tommy Kendall. After First Union stopped their backing at the end of the season, the team was scheduled to close down, but instead it changed its number to #01 and served as the team's research and development car. Green, Steve Grissom, and Ron Hornaday drove the car on a limited schedule in 1999. The team reappeared at Sears Point in 2001 as car #04 when Jason Leffler drove the car while Dorsey Schroeder piloted his regular ride; Leffler did not qualify for the race. The car came back as #42 in 2002 at Watkins Glen when Jimmy Spencer did not qualify while Scott Pruett drove his normal car. The car was scheduled to run seven races with Jamie McMurray driving, but when McMurray filled in for Sterling Marlin, the team didn't run until 2003. When it raced full-time for the first time in 2003, McMurray drove the car with Texaco/Havoline as the sponsor. Despite winning Rookie of the Year honors, McMurray left after the 2005 season to replace Kurt Busch at Roush Racing. Casey Mears moved up to take his place during the 2006 season, but Mears also decided to leave Ganassi, replacing Brian Vickers at Hendrick Motorsports. In July 2006, it was announced that racer Juan Pablo Montoya would replace Mears in the #42. Montoya won his first career Nextel Cup race at Infineon Raceway in the Toyota/Save Mart 350, ending a near five year victory drought the Chip Ganassi Racing organization had in the NEXTEL Cup Series (since the 2002 UAW-GM Quality 500, which was won by Jamie McMurray). He ended the year 20th in points and won Rookie of the Year.

After he failed to return to victory lane and dropped to 25th in points despite some good results and a second place in the Aaron's 499 in 2008, Texaco/Havoline left the team, and the Target Corporation was named the new sponsor for 2009. Montoya had his best season, with seven top 5, eighteen top 10 and 2 poles. He qualified for the Chase for the Cup and finished eighth in the overall standings.

Earnhardt-Childress Racing Technologies^[3] was formed in May 2007 as a cooperation between Dale Earnhardt Incorporated and Richard Childress Racing to develop and build common engines for the Chevrolet NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and NASCAR Busch Series teams campaigned by the two companies.

• ERGFS team website