January 15, 2009 - Neises Announces 2009 Lineup:
Dateline: Wichita, KS
Rob Neises sat down with Chris of Chris and Chris in the Mornings on KGSO Sports Radio yesterday. Neises, hot off his third place finish at Daytona in the trucks stopped in to talk 2009. Neises was in town to help his wife and kids move into their new house, and will fly out tomorrow mid-day to Daytona for the ECT Team Series event there. Feeds of the interview were released to national racing media outlets later in the day.
Neises said his AKM Monday Money roster and schedule is almost finished, but there are a few holes and unknowns, but he said it was done enough to make these announcements:
James Gang Racing will continue to be a major force in AKM, contrary to some "rumor" sites on the net. Four full-time teams are already in place, with a fifth full-time team waiting for a sponsors commitment before it will hit the track. Heading into Daytona, this is the roster. Guy Snyder will return to the 57 in 2009. A full-time sponsor has not been secured, but Neises believes he will have one by Daytona. Neises said no car make has been announced due to ongoing sponsor talks. The rest of the week, Snyder will drive for himself in the number 98 Snyder Motorsports Ford Fusion.
Chase driver Pedro Mojica returns to drive the entire season in the number 54 on Mondays. The Dodge Charger will carry sponsorship from Southern Racing Designs, with asssociate sponsorship from eXlander Web Design and Executive Services. Pedro will slide into the 57 for Sunday Cup, Midnight Thunder, and PITS racing.
Tony Brent will soon leave his post as JGR Marketing Specialist to return to the track in the number 31 Dodge Charger. Neises said he hopes to announce the sponsor by next week, but the ink isn't dry yet. Exlander and Executive Services are the associate sponsors. Brent is planning on running not just AKM, but other series under the JGR banner in 2009. In AKM, Brent is expected to race in the Sunday Cup and Midnight Thunder Series' besides Monday Money.
The fourth full-time car for JGR is the number 55 Southern Racing Designs Dodge Charger. ECT Champion, and winner of last weekends AKM 500 Rich Jette has been tapped by Neises to pilot the former 66 ride. The announcement of Jette as driver of the 55 was a scoop for KGSO, and Neises said he thinks he'll do fine. "Many drivers have a hard time with the transition over to AKM, but I've ran against Rich for almost 3 years, and no matter what kind of car you put him in, he comes out on top," Neises said.
For Daytona, Neises announced that he will have a fifth and sixth entry, possibly a seventh. Neises said JGR owns the numbers 56 and 07 and will put a couple drivers into those cars at Daytona for sure, after that, he said he couldn't commit yet.
Neises also said JGR has cooperative agreements with a few teams, that could spell up to 10 JGR affiliated cars attempting to qualify at any given race, and making JGR the largest affiliated team in AKM. The number 19 Neises-Rigdon Racing Toyota Camry with drivers RC Rigdon and Brandon Buchberger will attempt all 36 races this year in Monday Money racing with sponsorship from RevampedReloaded. The 98 Snyder Motorsports Ford will share JGR intel and technology in Monday Money racing. The 10th car is a agreement to co-operate the 43 with Sprayberry Motorsports in the Monday Money Series. Neises said he plans on running the 43 Dodge Charger at Daytona at this time.
Neises said he changed numbers on the two, three-digit cars from 2008, the 024 and 019, both numbers he acquired during the season. He also chose not to renew his license on the 66, leaving the 07 as the only original JGR Monday Racing number. Neises said he chose the numbers based on a commonality going with the 54-55-56-57 run, with the 31 chosen by the tentative sponsor, and the 07 the first Monday racing number purchased by Neises three years ago when he started pay-to-racing efforts at JGR. Neises said he would of liked to of kept the 66, but he could not afford to own so many numbers. With the 19, Neises said JGR owns 7 numbers.
Neises said he will attempt 6 races prior to the Chase, so he would be an eligible driver if needed during the Chase. Most he said he expects to be either in the 07 or 43.
Neises also said that the 56 and 07 cars would be for rent in 2009. Any one who wants to try a run in Monday Money can rent a car from JGR. Car rental is on a first come, first serve basis, and a one-week lead-in reservation in required. The cars, most likely Dodge Chargers, will include a pit crew in the cost of rental.
Neises said he would run the 54 in Midnight Thunder and Sunday Cup at AKM, and keep the number 54 as his primary number throughout the '09 campaign in other leagues. Neises plans on running at East Coast Thunder (ECT), Bomb Squad Racing (BSR), NASCOM, and SOAR-Racing (SOAR) during 2009, all in the number 54, with most of the rides being in Fords. He said the BSR Team Series would be the only possible non-Ford ride at this time. He said he is severely cutting back his racing efforts in 2009 due to the seperation and impending divorce. Neises said he expects to pick up a second job to cover all his expenses. He also said he is looking at retiring from racing on Mondays with the exception of the six Monday Money races. He said he plans on being on the pitboxes during the Monday Money races he does not race in.
Finally, Neises said it was with much trepidation that he is announcing that he will retire from offline racing at the completion of this winters ISRS Vintage Nascar series. Neises currently has a 5-point lead with 5 of the 10 races completed. "I need to focus on so many other things, offline racing is just one of the cutbacks I'll need to make with the divorce," Neises said. The announcement of his offline retirement is the second scoop KGSO can be credited with during the interview yesterday.