Marco-to-NASCAR idea cool, but we're full - Earnhardt

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said Saturday the landscape at JR Motorsports squashes any possibility of Marco Andretti getting a stock car.

"We've got four teams, and they're all full. So, it's probably not got any life," Earnhardt said in response to a tweet Andretti sent earlier in the week noting that he'd talked to Earnhardt and sister Kelley. "But we are friends, and we've talked about it for two, three years. He has some interest in coming over and running some road courses and so does [Graham] Rahal and a bunch of other guys."

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

In a perfect world, Earnhardt would have a full field of cars "with all our buddies racing." Unfortunately, that's hard to do.

JRM is fielding cars this season for rookie William Byron, Elliott Sadler, Justin Allgaier and Michael Annett. Three of the four drivers – Byron, Sadler, and Allgaier – are still championship eligible as the playoffs hit the third round. In 30 Xfinity Series races to date, JRM has been to victory five times.

Related Stories

The only way in which Earnhardt could add a car or driver would be what's considered an "All-Star" car in the sport. Many organizations use multiple drivers for one car to chase wins instead of a championship. JRM has done that in the past, filling out the seat with Earnhardt, Kasey Kahne, and Kevin Harvick among other names.

"We're really thankful to be in the position that we're in with four full cars racing for a championship in each one of them. As fun as the All-Star car idea is and as many races as we won with Harvick, the real goal is to have a team running for the championship," Earnhardt explained. "We're really thrilled now to be the position we're in.

"But if we did have those opportunities, that's probably what would end up happening with them. [Ron] Fellows, when he runs our car, he comes to us and says, hey, got a little money, you got an open race somewhere? That's as simple as that.

"So, if we did have those opportunities, we certainly would entertain it, and I think it would be great for the sport to have an Andretti out there running in a stock car, no matter where it's at. Be awesome."

The last time an Andretti competed in NASCAR was when John Andretti ran the 2010 Daytona 500.