NASCAR Teams included in Tour 19 include JRM and Team Penske
Tour 19 - Motor Sports Team Tour
Motor Sports Team Tours (Visit shops, museums, pit stops, etc., of the giants of NASCAR Racing) Wednesday, July 26, 2023 – 7:30 AM–12:00 Noon - (Maximum 100 - Limited By Venues)
This tour includes stops at two of the most recognizable team names in NASCAR today. The LCCA thanks both JR Motorsports (JRM) and Team Penske for welcoming LCCA Convention Attendees to their shops. Here is more about both teams.
JR MotorSports (JRM)
Now in its 22nd year, JR Motorsports is the professional race team co-owned by NASCAR Hall of Fame member and 15-time Most Popular Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kelley Earnhardt Miller and NASCAR Hall of Famer Rick Hendrick. The company is based in Mooresville, North Carolina, and operates out of a 66,000-square-foot facility that serves as the nucleus of Earnhardt Jr.’s racing, marketing and business interests.
JR Motorsports tours nationally in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with four full-time entries and is also active regionally with its late model program, upon which the company was founded.
JR Motorsports has three championships (2014, 2017 and 2018) to its credit. In 2017, the organization made NXS history by becoming the first team to claim the top three spots in the championship standings after locking four teams in the Playoff Round of 12, which also stood as a series record. The trend marked the fourth consecutive season (2014-17) that JRM placed at least two cars in the top four of the final standings. The company also maintains a distinction as the only NXS team to produce rookie champions, accomplishing the feat with Chase Elliott (2014), William Byron (2017) and Tyler Reddick (2018.)
Laying the foundation for this success was the team’s monumental 2014 season, in which it won the championship and earned a single-season-record nine victories among four drivers. In 2022, JR Motorsports shattered that mark with 15 triumphs among four drivers and placed 2-3-4 in the series points. All told, JRM boasts nearly 75 NXS victories and 100 late-model victories, including late-model championships in 2012, 2014, 2016-17 and 2022, along with a national title in 2020.
The company’s journey began in 2002 with a foray into street stock cars that competed locally at Concord (N.C.) Speedway. After numerous wins in the local ranks, Earnhardt launched his Xfinity Series program in 2006. In 2008 he merged with Hendrick Motorsports to field a joint effort that would include engineering, chassis and engine support. The collaboration paid off as JR Motorsports enjoyed a breakout season with four victories between its two teams. The company would score eight victories during the 2008 and 2009 campaigns. The team’s triumphs carried through the ensuing seasons, culminating in its championship efforts in 2014, 2017 and 2018. In addition to its NXS teams, JRM also expanded into the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series with a single entry in 2015-16, scoring two wins, including a victory in only its second series start.
Team PENSKE
Performance has always been a top priority with Roger Penske and Team Penske's state-of-the-art-facility located on 105 acres in Mooresville, N.C., mirrors its owner's philosophy - performance paired with style. Gleaming Italian floor tile, black leather chairs and an ample supply of glass in the main entrance do not even provide a hint of the massive race car building facility that lies on the other side of the courtyard. The two buildings that once housed the Matsushita Compressor Corp. of America in the Mooresville Business Park total 424,697 square feet. Matsushita operated the manufacturing plant for a decade, but then vacated it. For three years, the property was left to its wildlife inhabitants. In 2004, however, Roger Penske entered the picture.
After acquiring the property in June 2004 for $7 million, two construction crews were placed on the project in seven-day-a-week shifts. The main building's interior was gutted and a major facelift begun. Within six months, the race team's administrative department and chassis shop began relocating to the new racing campus. By March 2005, the NASCAR teams' move had been completed. In May 2005, a 4,986-square foot gift shop that provides visitors access to a 432-foot fan walk above the garage floor opened, and before 2005 ended, Penske's sports car series team had moved from Reading, Penn., to the North Carolina facility. By early 2007, all of Team Penske's race teams called the massive structure home. The IndyCar Series team, located in Reading, Penn., since the early 1970s, completed its move to Mooresville in late 2006. The IndyCar Series teams occupy 55,843 square feet in the facility. The consolidation of Team Penske made Roger Penske the first owner competing in three different major auto racing series to place all of his teams under one roof, and the first to base his IndyCar Series team in North Carolina. Team Penske visitors know they've been to a facility that's world class and a place that creates a team environment for preparation and performance.