Car No. 88 history JR Motorsports

mark mcfarland, team s first driver, in 2006.

the no. 88 debuted in 2005 @ ford 300 mark mcfarland driving sponsorship united states navy, qualifying eighteenth , finishing twentieth. mcfarland named full-time driver , had seventh-place finish @ talladega superspeedway, replaced shane huffman after twenty-one races, martin truex jr. , robby gordon filling-in races. huffman hired full-time driver in 2007, , had 2 top-ten finishes before released ride well.

brad keselowski earned 6 victories team 2007 2009.

brad keselowski, son of former craftsman truck series driver bob keselowski, hired replace huffman 3 races, scca driver andy pilgrim in car road course races in montreal , watkins glen. keselowski returned @ hometown track michigan. involved in hard crash @ fontana, in tagged spinning car, collided head first , driver side turn 1 wall, temporarily airborne, , rode guardrail while car on fire before coming stop. keselowski taken local hospital, , later cleared race @ richmond next week. keselowski finished season 5 top-ten finishes keselowski signed two-year contract jr motorsports navy returning sponsor in 2008. won first race @ nashville superspeedway , later picked win @ bristol motor speedway, finishing third in points lost navy sponsorship 2009. godaddy.com , delphi corporation sponsored no. 88 total of 24 races in 2009, unilever brands sponsoring 11 races on no. 88 car. keselowski won 4 races , finished third in points second consecutive season before leaving penske racing.

at end of 2009 season, kelly bires signed two-year contract drive jr motorsports in no. 88 chevy through 2011, earnhardt eager see bires in equipment. bires drove no. 5 ragu chevy junior @ homestead in preparation running full-time in 2010. due sponsorship obligations unilever , hellmann s mayonnaise brand, owner dale earnhardt jr. ran no. 88 car @ 2010 season opener @ daytona , danica patrick ran no. 7 car sponsor godaddy.com, forcing bires sit out. in debut @ fontana, bires scored seventh-place finish. more curious missing daytona when bires removed no. 88 car in favor of cup driver jamie mcmurray after 5 races run, 1 finish below 17th (a crash @ las vegas). earnhardt jr. cited chemistry issues between bires, jr motorsports management, , team including tony eury sr. , jr., , implied bires taking seat next brad [keselowski], next jeff gordon. bires third young driver hastily removed 88 car. elliott sadler, greg sacks, aric almirola, steve arpin, coleman pressley, dale earnhardt jr. , ron fellows ran races in car finish out season. no. 88 team took home 1 win in 2010, driver mcmurray in atlanta. came close winning inaugural race @ road america ron fellows.

aric almirola driving no. 88 car in 2011 bucyrus 200.

former dei development driver aric almirola moved truck series drive car full-time in 2011 part of 2-year deal. sponsorship unilever, grand touring vodka, , taxslayer, almirola ended fourth in points in first full-time season. almirola left jrm after 2011 join richard petty motorsports in cup series, while no. 88 taken former red bull development driver cole whitt in 2012 rookie season. whitt had consistent rookie season despite switching crew chiefs tony eury sr. bruce cook. whitt recorded best finish of 4th @ daytona, talladega, , michigan, finishing 7th in point standings lost rookie of year battle austin dillon. team unable find sponsorship whitt 2013, no. 88 used dale jr. in limited nationwide series schedule (to keep consistency cup series number). dale jr. , kevin harvick drove car first 2 races of 2014 season before switching owners points no. 5. in 2015 no. 5 team became no. 88 team, , driven dale jr. in 4 races, kevin harvick in 12 races, kasey kahne in 7 races , ben rhodes in 10 races. on april 23, 2016, dale earnhardt jr. piloted no. 88 victory @ richmond international raceway, first xfinity win in 6 years , first jr motorsports.

it announced in late-2016 no. 88 downgraded part-time ride 2017 earnhardt jr. , kahne.