CONCORD, N.C. – JR Motorsports officials announced Friday at Lowe's Motor Speedway a 10-race sponsorship of the No. 5 Nationwide Series team for 2009 with Unilever and its Hellman's mayonnaise, Ragu pasta sauce, Klondike ice cream and Lipton tea brands.
Landon Cassill will drive the No. 5 Chevrolet for seven of the events, team co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. two and Mark Martin one, according to Kelley Earnhardt, general manager of the team.
The sponsorship will begin with the season-opening Nationwide race at Daytona, with Earnhardt Jr. driving a Hellman’s-sponsored car.
Earnhardt Jr. said the team is close to signing sponsorship for the remaining 25 races for the No. 5, as well as the entire schedule for the No. 88 Chevrolet driven by Brad Keselowksi.
“We’ve got it just about entirely finished as far as putting together a program for all the races for each car,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “We still have a couple of gaps to fill. We started working pretty early and we had a lot of interest. We’re more fortunate than most I’m sure. I feel very confident that we’ll be able to get it wrapped up.”
Kelley Earnhardt said JR Motorsports is committed to two full-time cars next season.
“It’s very disconcerting,” Earnhardt said. “We’ve got people trying to put cars together and firesuits and get our marketing together for next year, and every day I have e-mails hitting my inbox: ‘Have you got nay news? Have you got any news?’
“But we’ve got some things working. I think we’re going to have it wrapped up, hopefully, within the next 30 days.”
Cassill, who has shared the No. 5 this year with several drivers, said an announcement should be forthcoming on his remaining schedule with the team next year, and it should include more races for him.
“We’ll have something soon,” Cassill said. “It’ll be cool.”
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