Evernham Motorsports

Evernham Motorsports was an American professional stock car racing organization that competed in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded in 2000 by former Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Ray Evernham, entering full-time competition as a two-car operation in 2001 and fielding additional full-time entries in alliances with Ultra Motorsports and the Valvoline corporation. The organization was renamed Gillett Evernham Motorsports in 2007 after former Montreal Canadiens and Liverpool F.C. owner George Gillett bought a controlling interest from founder Evernham, and merged with Petty Enterprises in 2009 to become Richard Petty Motorsports.^[2][3]

Team history

Evernham Motorsports was founded in 2000 by former crew chief

In August 2007, then Montreal Canadiens and Liverpool F.C. owner George N. Gillett Jr. purchased a majority stake in the race team. The operation was renamed Gillett Evernham Motorsports, with Ray Evernham retaining substantial ownership and the role of CEO. Evernham stated the partnership would allow him to focus on "racing operations and team performance", with the Gillett family handling the business end of the operation.^[7] GEM proceeded to hire several financial executives to assist with corporate marketing, including former chairman of LendingTree Tom Reddin to replace Evernham as CEO.^[8]

At the beginning of the 2008 season, GEM signed a technical and marketing agreement with independent driver Robby Gordon, with plans to eventually absorb Robby Gordon Motorsports into the GEM stable.^[9] Under the terms of the alleged merger, Gordon would sell his one-car-operation to GEM for $23.5 million, then receive a four-year contract worth $12 million to drive for the team.^[10] The deal fell through, with GEM suing Gordon for violating the terms of the agreement.^[10]

After the 2008 season, turmoil emerged when A. J. Allmendinger and Reed Sorenson were signed to drive for the team,^[11][12] while Elliott Sadler was released from his ride in the 19 car and planned to sue the team to keep his job.^[13] In the midst of a struggling economy, in January 2009 GEM merged with fellow Dodge team Petty Enterprises, which could no longer find sponsors for any of its cars, thus expanding the team to four cars. The organization was renamed Richard Petty Motorsports in the process. Ray Evernham was not involved in the merger negotiations, and both he and Richard Petty only maintained minority shares in the new team.^[2][3][14]

NASCAR Cup Series

Car No. 7 history

On November 16, 2001, Ultra Motorsports announced they had entered into a joint venture with Evernham Motorsports where the team would switch to

Bill Elliott (2001–2003)

The No. 9 debuted in the

Elliott was replaced by rookie driver

Near the end of the 2005 season, Evernham initiated a crew swap between his teams, citing performance issues with both cars.

Car No. 9 results

Car No. 10 history

Scott Riggs (2006–2007)

In 2006,

Carpentier, who was 36 years old at the time, became the full-time driver for 2008, part of a unique rookie class stacked with open wheel veterans all trying to emulate the success found by

In November 2007, Best Buy was announced as the new sponsor for fifteen races in the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Later Stanley and McDonald's were announced as the two other primary sponsors on the No. 19.^[8] In May, Sadler reached a two-year contract extension with the team.^[39] However, on December 27, 2008, GEM announced that A. J. Allmendinger, who drove the team's No. 10 car at the end of the season, would be replacing Sadler in the No. 19 for the 2009 season.^[12] At the same time the team also announced several of its sponsors were considering leaving the team and that Ray Evernham had cleared his personal belongings out of the team's race shop, but it was not clear whether it was related to the hire.^[39] On January 3, 2009, Sadler's attorney announced that he would be seeking a breach of contract lawsuit against GEM for the dismissal.^[13] Looking to avoid the lawsuit GEM and Sadler's attorneys reached a settlement six days later that would return Sadler to the No. 19 for 2009 while keeping Allmendinger with the team.^[40]

Car No. 19 results

R&D car history

2002–2007

The 98 car started as the 91 car in 2002. Three drivers drove the No. 91:

The No. 9 Ultimate Chargers Busch team started as the No. 6 Pepsi-sponsored Dodge Intrepid for Tommy Baldwin Racing. The team made its debut in 2002 at the fall Michigan Busch Series race, where Wally Dallenbach Jr. drove the team to a 14th-place finish. Dallenbach finished in the top ten in his other two starts in the car that year, splitting the car with Damon Lusk. Lusk took over on a limited basis for 2003 but did not finish in the top 10.

In 2004, primary sponsor

Evernham Motorsports (2005–2008)

In October 2004, Evernham Motorsports acquired Tommy Baldwin Racing, and with it, the Hungry Drivers program.^[49] Paul Wolfe started out the 2005 season, but was let go after the first four races due to poor performance. Kasey Kahne and Jeremy Mayfield took the brunt of the driving duties of the No. 6 team with Kahne scoring the team's first win at Kansas in October. Other drivers would also share in the driving duties of the car, including Mike Wallace, Tracy Hines, Bill Elliott, Casey Atwood, and also Paul Wolfe for three races. Erin Crocker would also make her Busch Series racing debut with the team at Richmond.

For the 2006 season, a number of changes were made to the team. First, a number switch with

In 2008, Unilever, along with additional backing from AutoValue/Bumper-to-Bumper and Ingersoll Rand, continued sponsorship of the team with Kahne, Sadler, Patrick Carpentier, and Chase Miller sharing driving duties in the car through the year. Results were mixed for the Nationwide GEM team. For the first time since the program's inception, the team failed to record a win. The car's best results were two second-place finishes. The first was recorded by Kasey Kahne in the spring race at Bristol while Patrick Carpentier finished 2nd in the race at Montreal.

Later in the year, it was announced that primary sponsor Unilever would move to the No. 5 of JR Motorsports.^[50] As a result of the loss of the sponsor, the organization announced that the car would move to a part-time schedule for the 2009 season. With the cutback, the team also let go about 65 employees, some of whom were also from the engine shop.^[51]

Car No. 19 history

Evernham No. 79 (2003, 2005)

In the 2003 season, the team debuted with

Evernham No. 19 (2007–2008)

In the last race of the 2007 season at

Chase Miller drove the car as a second GEM car in select Nationwide Series races in 2008, with sponsorship from Cellco Partnerships (a joint venture of Verizon and Vodafone) on the car. The team was retired once the Braun-Petty deal was announced.

Truck Series and ARCA

Casey Atwood (2002)

In 2002,