 | |
| Owner(s) | Teresa Earnhardt Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
|---|---|
| Series | NASCAR Busch Series |
| Race drivers | |
| Manufacturer | Chevrolet |
| Opened | 2003 |
| Closed | 2005 |
| Career | |
| Debut | 2003Koolerz 300 (Daytona) |
| Latest race | 2005Ford 300 (Homestead) |
| Races competed | 94 |
| Drivers' Championships | 2 |
| Race victories | 16 |
| Pole positions | 12 |
Chance 2 Motorsports was an AmericanNASCAR racing team that was founded byTeresa Earnhardt andDale Earnhardt Jr. in 2003. Although connected withDale Earnhardt, Inc., the race team founded byDale Earnhardt and run by Teresa Earnhardt after hisdeath, the two were separate operations.
The team ran in theNASCAR Busch Series for the three years it was in operation. The team fielded the No. 8Bass Pro Shops/Yum! Brands Chevrolet forMartin Truex Jr. full time in 2004 and 2005 and the No. 81 under various sponsorships and for various drivers including Earnhardt Jr., Truex, andTony Stewart. Truex scored two Busch Series championships and twelve wins for the team in its 3-year existence. Between 2003 and 2005, Earnhardt Jr. also won four races for Chance 2.
Chance 2 was founded in 2003 byTeresa Earnhardt, widow ofDale Earnhardt, and Earnhardt's sonDale Earnhardt Jr. The team name originates from Chance Racing, the team Earnhardt Sr. founded for his childrenKerry,Kelley, and Dale Jr. which was the precursor toDale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI)[1] After the2000 season, DEI did not field a Busch Series team and only made two one-off starts with Earnhardt Jr. at Daytona in 2002 and 2004, winning both races. DEI later re-entered the series withPaul Menard in the second-half of 2004.[2] Chance 2 originally competed part-time in the2003 NASCAR Busch Series season, with five drivers making a combined 14 starts in the No. 8/81 car. Earnhardt Jr. won three times for the team in his first three attempts, while the team scored five more top fives with other drivers. In 2004 and 2005,Martin Truex Jr. drove full-time in the No. 8, winning six races and the series championship in each season. Earnhardt,Tony Stewart, andRyan Moore ran a combined eleven races in the No. 81 over those two seasons, with Earnhardt winning at Bristol in 2004.[3] After the season, Chance 2 folded its operations, the remnants of the team becomingJR Motorsports, which later merged operations withHendrick Motorsports after 2007.
The No. 8 car began as a part-time effort in 2003, with Earnhardt Jr. running all the superspeedway races (Daytona and Talladega), winning all three. He led the most laps in theKoolerz 300 and theAaron's 312 and led all the laps in theWinn-Dixie 250 in July.Steve Park ran atLas Vegas in March, finishing fourth.Martin Truex Jr. ran three races with the car being renumbered to No. 81: Richmond, Dover, and Bristol. He also failed to qualify for the fall Dover race. Truex later ran the No. 8 late in the season at Charlotte, Rockingham, and Homestead, finishing second twice.Hank Parker Jr. made three starts in the car Charlotte in May and Kansas and Atlanta in the fall, finishing seventh and fifth twice.Tony Stewart ran the No. 8 in theCabela's 250 at Michigan in August, finishing 11th after leading the most laps.[3]
The 2004 season saw the first full-time season for Chance 2 as Martin Truex Jr. ran the full schedule and was considered an early season favorite. Truex ran several races for Chance 2 the year before in the No. 8/81 and had made a total of fourteen previous starts in the Busch Series dating to 2001, driving one race forPhoenix Racing in the No. 1Yellow Transportation Chevrolet, several for his father, Martin Truex, and one race forStanton Barrett's race team. Truex was expected to battle withKyle Busch (racing his first full NASCAR season since theTobacco Master Settlement Agreement had taken away hisTruck Series ride atRoush Racing when he was 16) for the points championship. Busch drove the No. 5Lowe's Chevrolet forHendrick Motorsports, the team that had won the series points championship in 2003 withBrian Vickers.[3]
Truex's car carried sponsorship fromBass Pro Shops for a majority of the races, with Yum! Brands sponsoring for 14 races.[4] Truex ran the first race of the season at Daytona in the No. 81, as car owner Earnhardt piloted the No. 8 as an entry for DEI. Truex's team and points then switched to the No. 8 for the second race of the season.[2] His first victory in the No. 8 came in theSharpie Professional 250 at Bristol in March. He followed it up with three additional victories in the next seven races: theAaron's 312 at Talladega, theCharter 250 at Gateway, and theGoulds Pumps/ITT Industries 200 at Nazareth, the final race held at the speedway.[3]
Truex claimed the points lead after Nazareth but quickly lost it to Busch. However, Truex put together a string of top ten finishes, regaining the points lead and putting distance between him and Busch. Truex won his fifth and sixth races of the season in the second half of the year, theStacker 2 Hundred atDover and theSam's Town 250 atMemphis, and clinched the series points championship with one race to spare. In addition to six wins and the championship, he ended the 2004 season with eight poles, 17 top fives, and 26 top tens in 34 races.[3]
Truex's 2005 season saw him claim a victory atAutodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, the first NASCAR race held in Mexico. He won at Talladega for the second consecutive year and also won at Dover in the spring. Truex's summer got off to a strong start as he won three times in six races, notching victories at Daytona, New Hampshire, and IRP. This duplicated his 2004 season total of six victories, and Truex won his second consecutive points championship by 68 points overClint Bowyer.[3]
After Chance 2 folded, Truex joined DEI full-time as the driver of the No. 1 car in theNEXTEL Cup Series for 2006, replacingMichael Waltrip in the second fulltime seat at Dale Earnhardt Inc.
The No. 81 car was a part-time operation for Chance 2 and was driven most often by Earnhardt Jr., primarily with sponsorship from longtime DEI partnerNabisco but alsoMenards andYum! Brands on occasion. The car first appeared in 2003 renumbered from No. 8 to No. 81 for three races at Richmond, Dover, and Bristol, all three driven byMartin Truex Jr. Although Truex finished sixth at Bristol, he failed to qualify for his next attempt at the fall Dover race. Truex competed in three more races late in the season, however they were all in the No. 8 car.[3]
At Daytona in 2004, Truex drove the No. 81 as the No. 8 car was driven by Earnhardt Jr. under the DEI banner. Following that race, Truex switched to the No. 8 under the Chance 2 banner and the No. 81 was operated on a part-time basis. Earnhardt led the most laps at Talladega but finished second. He also competed in the July Daytona race, finishing 17th.Tony Stewart attempted theCabela's 250 at Michigan but failed to qualify for the event. A week later, Earnhardt won theFood City 250 at Bristol piloting the No. 81 machine. Stewart later made one start for the team in theMr. Goodcents 300 atKansas Speedway withBass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats sponsorship. He led 115 of 200 laps in the No. 81 before being spun out by eventual race winnerJoe Nemechek and finishing 25th.[3]
For 2005, Earnhardt finished third at Daytona in February, but failed to finish the July Daytona race.Ryan Moore took over two races later at New Hampshire, but also failed to finish. Earnhardt made his third start in the car at Bristol, finishing seventh. Moore's next finish was 32nd at Richmond, while Earnhardt finished 39th at Charlotte in October. In the final race for the car at Homestead, Moore brought home a 13th-place finish.[3]
Note: In 2004, Dale Earnhardt Jr. drove the No. 8 car at Daytona for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Martin Truex Jr. drove the No. 81 in that race before switching to the No. 8 for the remainder of the season.[2]
| NASCAR Busch Series results[3] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | NBSC | Pts | Ref |
| 2003 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 8 | Chevy | DAY 1* | CAR | TAL 1* | NSH | CAL | DAY 1** | CHI | NHA | PPR | IRP | – | – | [5][6] [7][8] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Steve Park | LVS 4 | DAR | BRI | TEX | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Martin Truex Jr. | 81 | RCH 31 | GTY | NZH | DOV 18 | NSH | KEN | MLW | BRI 6 | DAR | RCH | DOV DNQ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 | CLT 17 | MEM | CAR 2 | HOM 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hank Parker Jr. | CLT 7 | KAN 5 | ATL 5 | PHO | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tony Stewart | MCH 11* | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2004 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 81 | CAR | LVS | DAR | BRI | TEX | NSH | TAL 2* | CAL | GTY | RCH | NZH | CLT | DOV | NSH | KEN | MLW | DAY 17 | CHI | NHA | PPR | IRP | BRI 1* | CAL | RCH | DOV | – | – | [9] | |||||||||||
| Tony Stewart | MCH DNQ | KAN 25 | CLT | MEM | ATL | PHO | DAR | HOM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Martin Truex Jr. | DAY 28 | 1st | 5173 | [10] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 | CAR 2 | LVS 14 | DAR 4 | BRI 1 | TEX 10 | NSH 23 | TAL 1 | CAL 13 | GTY 1 | RCH 7 | NZH 1 | CLT 14 | DOV 2 | NSH 2 | KEN 6 | MLW 9 | DAY 3 | CHI 14 | NHA 11 | PPR 5 | IRP 4 | MCH 3 | BRI 7 | CAL 6 | RCH 3 | DOV 1 | KAN 30 | CLT 6 | MEM 1 | ATL 9 | PHO 3 | DAR 4 | HOM 9 | ||||||||
| 2005 | DAY 4 | CAL 30 | MXC 1 | LVS 16 | ATL 11 | NSH 14 | BRI 31 | TEX 35 | PHO 9 | TAL 1 | DAR 3 | RCH 38 | CLT 7 | DOV 1 | NSH 5 | KEN 2 | MLW 2 | DAY 1 | CHI 7 | NHA 1 | PPR 4 | GTY 26 | IRP 1 | GLN 5 | MCH 4 | BRI 6 | CAL 15 | RCH 27 | DOV 12 | KAN 9 | CLT 11 | MEM 3 | TEX 11 | PHO 6 | HOM 7 | 1st | 4937 | [11] | |||
| Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 81 | DAY 3 | CAL | MXC | LVS | ATL | NSH | BRI | TEX | PHO | TAL | DAR | RCH | CLT | DOV | NSH | KEN | MLW | DAY 40 | CHI | BRI 7 | CAL | CLT 39 | MEM | TEX | PHO | – | – | [12] [13] | ||||||||||||
| Ryan Moore | NHA 34 | PPR | GTY | IRP | GLN | MCH | RCH 32 | DOV | KAN | HOM 13 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||