Kelley Earnhardt Reveals “The Biggest Barrier” Keeping JR Motorsports From Racing in the Cup Series in 2023

We have known for a long time that Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelley Earnhardt Miller want to take their Xfinity team to the top. By ‘top’ we surely mean, the Hendrick Motorsports partnered team, JR Motorsports’ plan to race for the Cup. However, when is that happening?

Unfortunately, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s sister recently shut down all possibilities of that happening in 2023 for sure.

Kelley Earnhardt Miller revealed crucial information on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

She certainly wants to race in the Cup Series as she said, “We’re thinking about it every day, we’re working on it,”. “We do wanna go cup racing. We do believe that’s a good spot for us.”

So what’s stopping JR Motorsports from making the jump? Well, Kelley revealed the main obstacle, “The biggest barrier is the charter cost.”

“I don’t think there’s a lot of charters up for grabs at a reasonable cost right now.”

But, the big reveal is that they will definitely not be racing full-time next year, “I don’t think we’ll be Cup racing full-time for 2023, that’s for certain.”

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It’s unfortunate how the charter system is preventing the team from entering. But, what is the Charter system?

What Is the Charter System That Is Keeping Kelley Earnhardt From Entering the Cup Series?

Being at the very top of the NASCAR series has some advantages. And, one of them is the charter system. So, in the most simple form possible, a Charter is the number a team owns to run that car.

An easy example is #48. Now, that number belongs to Hendrick Motorsports. Jimmie Johnson has raced with that number ever since he entered the cup. And now, Alex Bowman.

Similarly, every team can buy those numbers, also known as Charters. Moreover, there are 36 charters available, meaning 4 teams can run their cars without a charter too (as the maximum field size for a Cup race is 40). But, a Chater guarantees entry to every race in the Cup Series.

However, it entails a little more. Similar to Formula one’s concorde agreement, the governing body of NASCAR cannot make a major decision without talking to the 36 teams.

Of course, the important factor that comes in now is the cost of Charters because that’s JRM’s “Biggest barrier”. It is important to note that all charters don’t have the same value, it depends on the historic significance. For example, Dale Earnhardt’s #3 is worth a lot more than maybe #51 of Rick Ware.

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Although, reportedly, the price of charters has doubled to $12 million in 12 months. In the end, everyone wants to see JR Motorsports in the Cup, but we don’t know how or when that might happen.