When Jamie McMurray went to victory lane on Saturday night in the Nationwide Series, it couldn’t have been more of relief for JR Motorsports who crew chief Tony Eury Sr. said “made a mistake out over the offseason.”
The reason was that for the first time in nearly three years, JRM has found themselves in uncharted territory.
Since the departure of Brad Keselowski following the 2009 season, JRM has slipped from the top of the NNS heap. Keselowski and the No. 88 team had been championship contenders for two seasons, finishing third in 2008 and 2009 while winning multiple races.
The success brought the company much recognition and they became one of the top teams in the series. Many young drivers would be ready to jump at the chance to drive on of their cars and take advantage of great equipment. That type of planning wasn’t done however because no one thought anything would be changing anytime soon.
Except, when Keselowski won the Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega in the spring of 2009 plans quickly changed. The Michigan native demanded a Cup Series ride and no one connected to JRM or Hendrick Motorsports could give it to him at the time, all seats were filled. Roger Penske came calling with an opening and out went Keselowski, leaving the No. 88 open for another driver to get the chance that Keselowski had capitalized on.
During the off-season Kelly Bires became that driver. Unfortunately it wouldn’t last long. A driver change normally means the wins a team is accustomed to won’t come as easily or as often and JRM was prepared for that. Bires though, had past experience in the NNS and was thought of to be permanent piece of the JRM puzzle.
The No. 7 team was supposed to be the guinea pigs as Danica Patrick would be experiencing NASCAR for the first time, while drivers such as Steve Arpin, Scott Wimmer, Landon Cassill and others took turns behind the wheel in her absence.
Instead the revolving door of drivers would also hit the 88 team. Bires was release after just five races of the season. Lack of chemistry was cited and JRM was soon back to square one in searching for the next driver that would be the one to deliver them trophies.
McMurray was called upon for what was supposed to be eight races. Next came Coleman Pressley, Ron Fellows, Greg Sacks and Aric Almirola who happened to be the answer to JRM’s problems.
McMurray though, was the one that would end up helping JRM in the present and in a big way. Atlanta was huge for the company and crew chief Tony Eury Sr. knew it.
“It [the victory] means a lot to our company,” he said Saturday night. “We haven’t really ran up to our expectations all year long. We made a driver change five races into the season, wasn’t happy with what was going on at our place.”
No matter who was in the cockpit the car was a contender, but they weren’t race-winning contenders unless McMurray was driving. In eight races McMurray had six top tens, five top fives, including the win and the lowest he finished was 14th after wrecking on the last lap while racing for the lead at Talladega.
That race aside, McMurray was an owners dream. He wasn’t tearing up equipment, he was finishing and contending for race wins and sponsors and fans loved him. The only problem was that McMurray wasn’t a candidate for the full-time position.
But his making things easy while at the track was given JRM less to worry about and more time to handle the future.
“We really didn’t know what to do, who we wanted to put in it [the 88],” said Eury Sr. “We threw three of four names up in the air and Jamie’s name came out for one and now Elliott [Sadler] and I think we’ve had 14 different drivers that’s went through JR Motorsports this year.
“We were just trying to decide what we want to do, we want to run for the championship, [team owner] Dale Jr. likes having young guys in his car, he likes giving young drivers a chance. But it’s gotten to the point where the sponsors, you can’t just have a really green guy in that car, you got to have someone that can win races. That’s kind of hard to find … that’s what we’ve been looking for all year long.”
Situations beyond their control were also making things hard for JRM. The NNS was introducing a new car in preparation for next year. Their version of the COT was to be raced in four events in 2011: Daytona in July, Michigan in August, Richmond in September, and Charlotte in October.
“We’ve worked really hard and we know we’ve got good cars,” Eury Sr. continued. “We worked really hard on our COT program and we’re trying to get that thing going and trying to find sponsors and drivers for next year.”
As far as the No. 88 team is concerned, the driver search has ended. Aforementioned Almirola will be the driver of the 88 for the next few years, looking to bring the team back to the championship fight. Almirola isn't a 'green' driver and has proven he can get the job done in any series. He's currently sitting second in Camping World Truck Series point with two wins and he's credited with a NNS win from 2007 when driving for Joe Gibbs Racing.
In his first and only ride in the JRM Chevrolet, he finished third at O’Reilly Raceway Park and it sealed both his and JRM's fate.
Call it a comeback; say it was taking the long road to a future that hopes to hold a championship. Maybe it was growing pains for a company that had so much success early on they never knew what else to expect.
Either way, just as Jamie McMurray has reinvented himself in the Sprint Cup Series and driven back to the top of the sport, JR Motorsports is preparing to do the same in 2011 in the Nationwide Series.
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