By Caleb Whisler, Staff Writer
The transition from 2017 to 2018 was not one Jeffrey Earnhardt, driver of the No. 00 for StarCom Racing, would have expected.
In October, Earnhardt announced that he would be returning to Circle Sport-The Motorsports Group for the 2018 season in the No. 33 car. However, the deal was nullified in December when Circle Sport and The Motorsports Group decided to split after one season. Earnhardt found out right before Christmas.
“It definitely not the easiest thing to hear. I got the phone call form Joe Falk saying that he wasn’t doing it no more two weeks before Christmas. Not the best timing. One door closed for a better one to open,” Earnhardt stated to Kickin’ The Tires.
By the time Earnhardt found out that he would be without a ride, majority of the seats in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series were filled. After a few phone calls with teams across all three-national series and weighing out the best option, Earnhardt received a phone call from Derrike Cope, team manager of the newly formed StarCom Racing.
After a visit to the shop and seeing the vision of the organization, the 28-year-old driver knew StarCom Racing was where he needed to be.
“With me having sponsorship and them acquiring a charter from RCR, we had talked, went to the shop, met with them and discussed their plans and ideas,” Earnhardt continued. “I told them what we had on the table as far as sponsor dollars go. We went from there. After seeing where their thoughts and ideas were, it made sense to make the move here.”
Earnhardt came to StarCom with sponsorship from VRX Simulators. He knew that the owners of StarCom Fibers were investing the money to get good the equipment. Over the offseason, the organization purchased chassis from Richard Childress Racing, ECR motors and entered a lease deal for Daytona and Talladega.
Although the deal coming together at the last-minute, Earnhardt and his team have spent time building a healthy relationship through team building, car building and other activities. Earnhardt is proud of the effort and attitude his team has portrayed to get cars ready for the season.
“A lot of hard work from all these guys. The deal came together so last-minute it makes it quite the thrash, but everyone has been hard at it. Keeping a good attitude about everything. That is what it is going to take to keep this whole deal successful is good attitudes and hard work.”
During his tenure with the organization, the 28-year-old driver wants to build and improve the organization alongside the leadership of Cope. He believes that if they follow through with the thoughts and ideas they have, that they could become a successful team in Cup
“I think if we follow through with the thoughts and ideas and motions that StarCom is looking to take, I think we should build this team into being a successful team,” Earnhardt stated. “Rome wasn’t built over night. Neither is a winning race team. We will get there. Hopefully between everyone’s resources here, we can make that happen.”
When it comes to improvement, Earnhardt constantly gets asked what position he is looking for. However, he does not look at the position on the race track, but at how hard the team works and what his role of a driver is.
“It’s to continue to improve. Everyone always says ‘What position?’ I don’t really look at position. I want to see improvement. As long as we are seeing improvement, we will get the good finishes. We have to continue to work hard as a team and log all the laps we can,” Earnhardt continued.
“Trying to take care of our equipment because we are a small team and it is a lot harder for a small team to turn cars around. We will play everything smart but try to make the best of every opportunity we got. If we can continue to see improvement and willingness from everyone here to make the program better and run smooth, we will get the finishes; I am not worried about that. Just got to put in a lot of work and we will be there.”
In the first two races of the season at Daytona and Atlanta, Earnhardt saw a 21st and 34th place finish, respectively.