Dale Earnhardt Jr. is out at Talladega and in at Chicago – in the Nationwide Series, that is.
Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports team announced Monday that Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne will switch previously scheduled race dates, with Junior driving in the Sept. 14th race at Chicagoland Speedway and Kahne swapping that race for the May 4th event at Talladega Superspeedway.
Earnhardt Jr. and Kahne, Sprint Cup teammates at Hendrick Motorsports, are running part-time Nationwide schedules for JR Motorsports. Junior is scheduled to run four races and Kahne 11.
“Kasey and I were chatting about our Nationwide Series schedules, and I was looking for more track time at a place like Chicago,” said Earnhardt Jr. “Kasey mentioned how he would love a shot at winning at Talladega. Fortunately, we have a partner like (sponsor) Great Clips that was willing to work with us. One of our 2013 goals at JR Motorsports is to be a better asset to Hendrick Motorsports. For me personally, this scheduling change helps us do just that.”
Earnhardt Jr. has raced in Nationwide twice this year, finishing fourth at Daytona and seventh at Las Vegas. He also plans to race April 12th at Texas Motor Speedway.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 31 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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