Race Weekend Central

Jeffrey Earnhardt Parts Ways With Joe Gibbs Racing, iK9

Jeffrey Earnhardt has parted ways with sponsor iK9 and Joe Gibbs Racing as well.

This news was announced via Earnhardt’s Twitter on Wednesday morning (Aug. 7).

Earnhardt was scheduled to be in JGR’s No. 18 in this Saturday’s Xfinity Series B&L Transport 170 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN).

iK9, a canine security company owned by Xtreme Concepts, first jumped into NASCAR with Earnhardt in 2017 for Gaunt Brothers Racing and vastly expanded its commitment with JGR this season, sponsoring the spring race at ISM Raceway and developing its own JGR satellite team in XCI Racing.

Earnhardt was scheduled to drive in nine races in the No. 18, with an additional five in the No. 81 for XCI, while he drove in one Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, finishing 22nd after getting in an accident.

In seven NXS races in 2019, Earnhardt scored three top 10s, with a best finish of third at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Five of those races were with JGR, and he was entered in the July Daytona race with XCI before the team withdrew a few days before the event.

iK9 will remain a JGR sponsor, having signed on for a total of 24 races between Earnhardt, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Brandon Jones. Jones has been sponsored by the 1st Foundation, a nonprofit operated by Xtreme Concepts, in six races so far this season.

A replacement driver for this weekend’s race at Mid-Ohio has not been named yet.

About the author

Wesley has been with Fronstretch since October 2017. He loves well-told stories in whatever format he finds them. Aside from NASCAR, he enjoys reading, country music and OKC Thunder basketball. He has a BA in Liberal Arts/English and currently lives in eastern Oklahoma, where he works as a freelance writer/editor.

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DoninAjax

ROI!

kb

Who did see this coming? I knew it when the ink was drying on the contract.

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