NASCAR Cup Series: Spire Sports + Entertainment to compete full-time in 2019
By Asher Fair
Spire Sports + Entertainment are set to compete full-time in the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season after purchasing a charter.
Spire Sports + Entertainment, an American talent agency and motorsports consultant that represents a number of different drivers, sponsors and teams in the NASCAR Cup Series and IndyCar as well as drivers, sponsors and teams in the development ladders for these two series in addition to musical artists, are set to compete full-time in the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season.
The team are set to enter the #77 Chevrolet in each of the 36 races on the 2019 schedule. That said, details regarding who the team’s driver or drivers and crew chief will be have not yet been revealed. Information about the team’s technical alliance and sponsor or sponsors has also not yet been revealed.
The last time the #77 car competed in the Cup Series was the 2017 season. Rookie Erik Jones drove the #77 Toyota for Furniture Row Racing for all 36 races on the schedule.
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Furniture Row Racing, which shut down following the conclusion of the 2018 season, are the team from which Spire Sports + Entertainment purchased the charter they needed to field the #77 Chevrolet on a full-time basis in the 2019 season.
Furniture Row Racing team owner Barney Visser reportedly asked Spire Sports + Entertainment to help him sell this charter, which he previously used to field the #78 Toyota on a full-time basis, before suggesting that the company buy it and start their own Cup Series team. The sale of this charter, which is the most expensive charter sale in NASCAR history, ended up taking place in September before it was confirmed earlier this week.
The team are set to be co-owned by Jeff Dickerson and T.J. Puchyr. Here is what Dickerson had to say about the team entering the Cup Series on a full-time basis in the 2019 season, according to NBC Sports.
"“We think this is the perfect time to buy in. Our guys sit in board rooms and tell people how much they believe in the sport. We believe in this sport. We believe in the leadership.”"
Ty Norris, the former executive vice president of motorsports of Dale Earnhardt, Inc., vice president of special projects of Speedway Motorsports, Inc., and executive vice president of business development and general manager of Michael Waltrip Racing, is set to be the president of the Spire Sports + Entertainment Cup Series team. He has served as the company’s president since 2015.
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How will Spire Sports + Entertainment perform in their first season as a full-time team in the NASCAR Cup Series? Who will their driver or drivers be in the 2019 season? The season is scheduled to begin at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida with the Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 17, 2019. Be sure not to miss any of the 36 races on its schedule.