Jay Robinson's Cup and Xfinity team ran a crowded list of cars and drivers, leased charters, survived an auction and a penalty, and was bought by Rick Ware Racing in 2020.
Premium Motorsports was a Cup team formerly known as Jay Robinson Racing, which bought Tommy Baldwin Racing's inventory in 2017. Rick Ware Racing acquired it in May 2020, after Brennan Poole's full-time season in the No. 15 was announced for that year.
Premium Motorsports began as Jay Robinson Racing and competed in the NASCAR Cup Series in its final form. It last fielded the No. 15 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 full-time for Brennan Poole, while Reed Sorenson drove a part-time No. 27. On 13 May 2020 Rick Ware Racing acquired the team, ending the Robinson era.
How did Jay Robinson's team begin?
Jay Robinson's operation started in the Xfinity Series in 2000, when the team debuted at Myrtle Beach Speedway with Rodney Childers driving the No. 49 Southern Marine Chevrolet. Childers wrecked after 69 laps. The team's 2001 season, its first full one, used several drivers and ended 33rd in owner points.
Robinson later acquired a much larger base. On 21 September 2017 he announced that he had bought all the assets of Tommy Baldwin Racing, including the Cup inventory, race vehicles and equipment. He also bought the No. 15 charter from HScott Motorsports that year, and the car took that number.
A Robinson-owned team that bought a charter, leased another and turned a Tommy Baldwin inventory into a Cup program before a 2020 sale.
What did the 2012 Cup plans look like?
In 2012 the team announced its intent to race the full Cup schedule in Toyotas, using the No. 49. J. J. Yeley and Tony Furr were the driver and crew chief. The team had sponsorship for the Daytona 500 from America-Israel Racing, and Yeley said that JPO Absorbents would sponsor eight to ten races. In its first outing the team missed the Daytona 500 field.
The plan did not last. On 22 October 2012 the team sold its Cup equipment at auction to NEMCO Motorsports and Joe Nemechek. Robinson became a partner in the renamed NEMCO-JRR Motorsports, and in October 2014 Mike Wallace ran the No. 49 Royal Teak Collection Toyota at Talladega for the Robinson-affiliated Identity Ventures Racing.
How did Identity Ventures Racing and the No. 66 start?
In 2014 Robinson took part in Identity Ventures Racing, a collaboration owned by James Hamilton and Mark Bailey. It ran the No. 66 Toyota for a rotation of drivers as a Michael Waltrip Racing affiliate. Late in the season Robinson took over the No. 66 outright, following legal trouble involving partner Nat Hardwick.
In 2015 Robinson announced a return to the Cup Series full-time from his own shop for the first time since 2012, now as Premium Motorsports. He brought over the remaining equipment and the No. 66 owner points. Mike Wallace drove the car in the Daytona 500, where he finished 36th, but he failed to qualify for the next two races. He was then released in favour of Tanner Berryhill, who failed to qualify in his only attempt.
What was the team's 2015 Cup lineup like?
In 2015 Premium added a second car, the No. 62 Chevrolet, with Brian Scott, Brendan Gaughan and Reed Sorenson among its drivers. The team used equipment and owner points from Tommy Baldwin Racing's former No. 36 team, which Robinson had bought at the start of the year. Gaughan planned to race the rest of the season without direct RCR support.
Gaughan qualified in Atlanta and at Las Vegas, but the team then missed four straight races, three of them supposed to be fully sponsored. He qualified at Talladega and at Dover, where he finished 34th, and at Daytona he matched his season-best 28th. After qualifying for only eight of the first 16 races he left the team.
Timmy Hill took over the No. 62 for much of the year. The car was plagued by qualifying failures and by electrical trouble, and it missed 20 of 36 races. It finished 2015 45th in owner points, the lowest of any team that attempted the full schedule.
Who drove the No. 98 when Premium took it over?
In May 2015 it was reported that Phil Parsons Racing and Mike Curb would sell their No. 98 team, driven by Josh Wise, to Robinson. The change was visible when the Phoenix Construction logos came off the car before the GEICO 500 at Talladega. Premium officially took over the team at the Coca-Cola 600, with Royal Teak sponsoring and Wise still driving.
Wise announced in July that he had left Premium, citing differences in direction. Brendan Gaughan had announced his departure only days before, and Robinson later said the moves were due to sponsorship circumstances. Timmy Hill, the team's part-time Truck driver, filled in for several races, and Preece also drove the car in some events that season.
How did Cole Whitt's 2016 season go?
In 2016 Cole Whitt was announced as the new driver of the No. 98 and ran the full season. The team had inherited a charter from the No. 62, but it leased that charter to HScott Motorsports, leaving it with no guaranteed starting spot under the new qualifying rules.
Whitt's Daytona 500 ended before it began: he spun in his Can-Am Duel and broke his transmission. Fewer entries at Las Vegas, Phoenix and Fontana then meant that Whitt made all three races. He finished 18th at Talladega despite a last-lap crash, and at Daytona later that year he came home 11th, the best finish in the history of the team.
Whitt was moved to the No. 55 at Pocono for a stretch and was released after Kansas for lack of sponsorship. Sorenson drove the No. 98 for several races in his place.
What happened to the No. 55 and No. 62 teams in 2016?
The No. 55 came to the team through Mike Hillman, who had partnered with Joe Falk and purchased equipment from Hillman-Circle Sport. The team made its 2016 debut at Martinsville, qualifying 40th out of 40 cars. Waltrip drove the 55 at Talladega, where his 12th place remained Robinson's best Cup result until the next restrictor-plate race.
Sponsorship was thin. The team picked up PEAK Antifreeze for Talladega with Waltrip, the World Record Striper Company for Dover, and Vydox Plus at Pocono, among other short deals. At the second Talladega race the team surprised many by posting the fastest time in the first round of qualifying.
In 2017 the No. 55 got off to a bad start, crashing out and failing to qualify for the Daytona 500. Derrike Cope came back to the Cup Series to drive it from Atlanta.
How did Ross Chastain's Cup debut go?
In 2017 Premium bought the charter from HScott Motorsports and gave the car the number 15. Michael Waltrip's final Daytona 500 produced the team's best finish that year, an eighth-place run that avoided the carnage in the second half of the race.
Ross Chastain made his Cup debut at Dover that season and finished 20th, the team's best result on a non-superspeedway. Reed Sorenson drove the car early in 2017, and Joey Gase, Kevin O'Connell, Gray Gaulding and Derrike Cope also drove it at different points.
Chastain returned to the team in 2018, when he ran Atlanta and then most of the remaining races. Justin Marks drove at Sonoma and the Charlotte Roval. In 2019 Chastain ran the full season and earned his first top-ten finish in a chaotic Daytona race, finishing 10th after being two laps down at one point.
What penalty did the team face in 2019?
NASCAR handed penalties to three teams, Premium among them, over the finishing order at Homestead on 27 November 2019. Each team lost 50 owner points and paid a US$50,000 fine. The competition director at Premium was suspended indefinitely and fined US$25,000.
On 11 December 2019 the team announced that Brennan Poole would race full-time in the No. 15 for 2020. Three weeks into the season, rumours began to circulate that Robinson was selling. Rick Ware Racing then bought Premium from him.
How did the No. 7 and No. 27 cars fit into the 2018 season?
On 22 January 2018 it was announced that Danica Patrick would drive the No. 7 at Daytona, the last NASCAR start of her career, with GoDaddy backing. The car was prepared by Richard Childress Racing, and it used the charter the No. 15 had used in 2017.
The No. 7 was later fielded by NY Racing Team in partnership with Premium. J. J. Yeley drove at Charlotte and Pocono, D. J. Kennington drove at Michigan, and Jeffrey Earnhardt finished 11th at Daytona. Jesse Little made his Cup debut at Kentucky with the team, and the No. 7 closed at the end of the year.
The No. 27 appeared in 2019 when Casey Mears drove a Premium-built Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at the Daytona 500, entered as a Germain Racing car. Reed Sorenson made the 2020 Daytona 500 field after finishing 18th in the first Duel.
What did the Xfinity programme look like?
The Xfinity No. 28 made its debut at the 2004 Charter 250, sponsored by Yahoo! and driven by Mark Green. Derrike Cope was named driver for 2005, but he was replaced by Shane Hall, who ran only part-time without finishing a race. In 2006 Hall ran six races with a best finish of 36th.
In 2007 the operation took over the assets of the former Haas CNC Racing Busch team and fielded a full-time Chevrolet numbered 28, with Robert Richardson and Blake Bjorklund behind the wheel. Niclas Jonsson started eighth at Montreal, led five laps and finished 12th after briefly contending for the win.
Kenny Wallace was named the driver of the No. 28 from Nashville in 2008. He gave the team its best finish of the era, a third at Memphis Motorsports Park, and he finished sixteenth in points. In 2009 he had two top tens and placed eleventh in points, the team's highest finish. Wallace then left for RAB Racing.
Derrike Cope drove the No. 28 full-time in 2011 with Maxelence sponsorship, finishing 20th in points with a best finish of 17th at Road America. The team later focused on its Cup programme, and the Xfinity car was run only occasionally.
What was the story of the No. 49 and No. 39 in Xfinity?
The No. 49 car ran many drivers in its early years. Andy Kirby finished 16th at the NASCAR Subway 300 in 2001, the team's best result that year. The team finished 33rd in owner points, and Josh's Eggs became an associate sponsor for several races.
In 2003 the team hired Chris Bingham and Derrike Cope to share the No. 49, and Bingham soon moved to the No. 39 team. Tammy Jo Kirk ran 15 races for the team that season, with a best finish of 21st at Pikes Peak.
Steve Grissom drove the No. 49 full-time in 2005, with a best finish of 16th at Talladega. The car switched to the No. 4 number in 2008, after the team bought owner points from Phoenix Racing. Kertus Davis joined in 2008 after leaving JD Motorsports, and his best finish was 35th.
The No. 39 cars were bought from Robert Yates Racing in 2003. Mike McLaughlin drove the first race and qualified fourth before a late crash left him 29th. The 39 team was not used after 2004.
What did the team do in the Truck Series?
In 2015 the team fielded a full-time truck numbered No. 94, which was the inverse of the 49. Wendell Chavous drove most of the season, while Travis Kvapil started on the outside pole at Daytona and finished 15th after sustaining damage in a wreck. The team suffered its first DNQ at Martinsville that year.
In 2016 Timmy Hill became the full-time driver and the truck switched to Robinson's traditional No. 49. Wendell Chavous drove it full-time in 2017 and competed for Rookie of the Year honours. In 2018 Premium announced that its Truck team would shut down, so the team could focus on the Cup Series.
What is the team's legacy?
Premium Motorsports, in its Cup form, was a small team that changed names and owners several times in a few years. Its cars carried drivers such as Ross Chastain, Brendan Gaughan, Cole Whitt and Brennan Poole, and it gave Danica Patrick a farewell Daytona 500 start in 2018.
The team's history is also a story of how Cup charters were leased, bought and merged between teams, which kept the organisation in the sport when sponsors were hard to find.
