Jeffrey Earnhardt could have a teammate for Texas

Jeffrey Earnhardt could have a teammate at his new team soon, though it would only be temporary.

StarCom Racing is nothing if not ambitious for a brand new race team. It’s already hired Jeffrey Earnhardt to drive its No. 00 Chevrolet, and now it might secure him a temporary teammate as well.

Team manager Derrike Cope expressed to The Racing Experts his hope that StarCom Racing would field two cars at Texas Motor Speedway in April at the O’Reilly Auto parts 500. The second car would not have a charter and not be guaranteed to make the field, but since only the Daytona 500 has had 40 cars so far in the current NASCAR Cup Series season, that would probably not be an issue.

Cope told the website that one of the considerations would be making sure there were physically enough cars to allow a second entry without depriving Earnhardt of needed resources.

"I think our owners want to do that. We have to really get a few more cars in the stable before I think we really can put ourselves out there to even try and do that.I just don’t want to undermine the No. 00 and Jeffery’s effort by any means."

StarCom Racing came to the rescue with a seat for Earnhardt after his 2017 team, formed by the union of Circle Sport and The Motorsports Group, disintegrated in December. It’s been a struggle for the last Earnhardt left at the Cup Series level, who just missed the top 20 at Daytona but has finished 34th and 31st in the two races since.

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Still, a second StarCom Racing car could help the 00 by providing valuable feedback. There shouldn’t be any lack of drivers who could step in at Texas — indeed, even Cope could get behind the wheel, given his experience — so it would be great to see this deal come together.