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JTG-Daugherty open to adding additional car for 2017
Could JTG-Daugherty Racing be expanding for 2017? It certainly sounds like the team is seriously considering it.
Co-owner Tad Geschickter said the team would have to make a decision soon if it wanted to add a teammate for AJ Allmendinger next season.
That’s a big decision,” Geschickter said Tuesday on Sirius XM Speedway (via NBC Sports). “Certainly we’re weighing out all the options right now. It’s no secret that we have to figure out are there are charters available and their cost, are there drivers available, what do they cost and certainly we ultimately have to report back to the sponsors and pull the trigger. Luckily with a company the size of Richard Childress Racing helping us, there’s the opportunity to get the cars ready.”
JTG-Daugherty has a technical alliance with RCR and would need to get additional inventory from the company if it wanted to expand. In addition to its three core teams, RCR has alliances with Germain Racing, JTG-Daugherty and Leavine Family Circle Sport Racing.
Leavine Family Racing and Circle Sport are splitting at the end of the season. According to ESPN, LFR is in the process of finding a charter as the team’s current charter is the property of Circle Sport.
36 of the 40 spots in the Sprint Cup field are guaranteed to teams with charters. JTG-Daugherty has just one charter and would likely want another if it expands to two teams. But Geschickter said the price of a charter would also have to be worth it. Many Sprint Cup fields have had no cars fail to qualify in 2016; running a team without a charter doesn’t have as much of a downside unless there are more cars attempting races in 2017.
“Certainly we’re weighing out all the options right now. It’s no secret that we have to figure out are there are charters available and their cost, are there drivers available, what do they cost and certainly we ultimately have to report back to the sponsors and pull the trigger. Luckily with a company the size of Richard Childress Racing helping us, there’s the opportunity to get the cars ready.”
Since the charter cap is set at 36, LFR and JTG-Daugherty would have to buy their charters from someone. The most likely candidates seem to be HScott Motorsports and Tommy Baldwin Racing in addition to Premium Motorsports. Scott’s future isn’t set in 2017 and Baldwin has said his team is exploring all options. Premium leased its charter to HScott for Michael Annett in 2016 and can’t lease it again for four more seasons.
And there is, of course, the issue of figuring out who will drive a second car. Save for Clint Bowyer’s move to Stewart-Haas Racing, there haven’t yet been any 2017 driver change announcements for chartered teams.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
