Premium Motorsports (formerly Jay Robinson Racing) was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team last fielded the No. 15 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 LE full-time for Brennan Poole, and the No. 27 Camaro part-time for Reed Sorenson.
On May 13, 2020, Premium Motorsports was acquired by Rick Ware Racing.
Cup Series
Car No. 7 history
On September 21, 2017, Premium Motorsports' owner, Jay Robinson announced that he has acquired all assets from Tommy Baldwin Racing. The acquisition includes Baldwin's entire cup series inventory including everything from the team's race vehicles to their equipment. It also includes the trucks that were leased by TBR to the No. 52 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Team but Baldwin says there remain a few obligations from his No. 7 team to be fulfilled in future races. Justin Marks drove the car at Talladega, Hermie Sadler drove at Martinsville and Joey Gase drove at Texas and Phoenix.
On January 22, 2018, Danica Patrick was announced to drive the No. 7 in the Daytona 500 in her final NASCAR start. She brought sponsorship from her former sponsor, GoDaddy. The team fielded a car prepared by Richard Childress Racing, and used the charter that the No. 15 car used in 2017. Following the race, the charter went back to the No. 15. The No. 7 next appeared fielded by NY Racing Team in partnership with Premium Motorsports, originally supposed to be crew-chiefed by Brian Keselowski. However, Keselowski and a few other crew members declined to work under NY Racing owner John Cohen, and were dismissed from Premium before the 2018 Coca-Cola 600 the debut for the team. The #7 Steakhouse Elite Chevrolet would be driven by JJ Yeley at Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600 and Pocono for the Pocono 400. It was then fielded under the Premium Motorsports banner utilizing what had been the No. 55 crew. D. J. Kennington would be behind the wheel at Michigan, and Reed Sorenson was scheduled to drive at Sonoma but the team withdrew midweek and entered Chicagoland with Sorenson instead. Jeffrey Earnhardt was brought on for the next race at Daytona, bringing home an 11th-place finish in the crash filled race. Part-time Truck Series driver Jesse Little made his Cup Series debut at Kentucky with the team. The #7 team was closed down at year's end, with the 7 being assigned to NY Racing and Premium retaining their #15.
Car No. 7 results Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series results Year Driver No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Owners Pts 2018 Danica Patrick 7 Chevy DAY35 35nd 2 J. J. Yeley ATL LVS PHO CAL MAR TEX BRI RCH TAL DOV KAN CLT POC32 BRI32 DAR 38th 152 D. J. Kennington MCH34 SON TAL34 PHO27 HOM Reed Sorenson CHI32 POC32 GLN IND28 LVS31 RCH KAN36 TEX33 Jeffrey Earnhardt DAY11 Jesse Little KEN35 NHA Garrett Smithley MCH32 Ross Chastain ROV24 DOV Hermie Sadler MAR40
Car No. 15 history
In 2017, Premium Motorsports bought the charter from the No. 15 HScott Motorsports team, and the car number was changed to No. 15 as a result. The team got a career-best 8th in Michael Waltrip's final race in the Daytona 500, able to avoid the carnage in the 2nd half of the race. After Daytona, Reed Sorenson went to the No. 15. At Talladega and Indianapolis Joey Gase drove the No. 15 finishing 21st and 25th respectively. At Dover, Ross Chastain made his Cup Series debut, where he finished 20th which is the team's best non-super-speedway finish. Road Course Ringer Kevin O'Connell drove the No. 15 at Sonoma finishing 33rd, Gray Gaulding drove the No. 15 in the 2017 Overton's 400. Derrike Cope drove the No. 15 at Michigan.
The No. 15 team returned in 2018 with Chastain driving at Atlanta. Chastain was to run every race in the No. 15 for the rest of the season. It was later announced that road course ringer Justin Marks would pilot the car at Sonoma and the Charlotte Roval with sponsorship from the Sufferfest Beer Company. This resulted in Chastain missing the Sonoma race, and driving the No. 7 at the Charlotte Roval.
Chastain returned to the team in 2019, running the full season. After running two laps down at one point, Chastain would earn his first top-ten finish in a wild Daytona race and finished 10th.
On November 27, 2019, NASCAR imposed penalties to Premium Motorsports, Rick Ware Racing, and Spire Motorsports for manipulating their finishing order at Homestead. Each team was docked 50 owners' points and fined 50,000. In addition, competition directors Scott Eggleston of Premium Motorsports and Kenneth Evans of Rick Ware Racing were suspended indefinitely and fined 25,000 each.
On December 11, 2019, it was announced that Brennan Poole would race full-time in the No. 15 for 2020.
Just three weeks into the season, rumors began circulating that Robinson was selling his team. Later, it was confirmed that Rick Ware Racing purchased Premium from Robinson.
Car No. 15 Results NASCAR Cup Series results Year Driver No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36Pts 2017 Michael Waltrip 15 Toyota DAY834th236 Reed Sorenson Chevy ATL31 PHO30 MAR31 TEX35 BRI28 RCH33 KAN25 CLT30 MCH34 KEN28 NHA34 BRI38 CHI32 NHA28 CLT31 KAN25 MAR32 TEX31 HOM35 Toyota LVS31 CAL34 POC31 DAR39 Joey Gase TAL21 Chevy IND25 Ross Chastain DOV20 DOV38 Kevin O'Connell SON33 D. J. Kennington Toyota DAY38 Chevy PHO26 Gray Gaulding POC31 Gary Klutt GLN31 Derrike Cope Toyota MCH39 Chevy RCH36 Mark Thompson TAL39 2018 Ross Chastain ATL30 LVS29 PHO27 CAL29 MAR29 TEX18 BRI39 RCH28 TAL25 DOV28 KAN26 CLT24 POC28 MCH26 CHI30 DAY21 KEN28 NHA25 POC35 GLN32 MCH35 BRI26 DAR28 IND26 LVS20 RCH33 DOV37 TAL24 KAN39 MAR29 TEX32 PHO24 HOM3332nd306 Justin Marks SON28 CLT27 2019 Ross Chastain DAY10 ATL31 LVS33 PHO27 CAL28 MAR34 TEX29 BRI29 RCH30 TAL26 DOV30 KAN31 CLT36 POC24 SON33 CHI26 KEN31 NHA25 POC30 GLN27 MCH29 BRI26 DAR28 IND22 LVS31 RCH36 CLT22 DOV31 TAL12 KAN27 MAR29 PHO2833rd260 Garrett Smithley MCH30 Quin Houff DAY37 Joe Nemechek TEX29 HOM38 2020 Brennan Poole DAY16 LVS29 CAL32 PHO31 DAR27 DAR37 CLT30 CLT38 BRI24 ATL30 MAR30 HOM32 TAL35 POC29 POC27 IND35 KEN31 TEX27 KAN30 NHA27 MCH37 MCH30 DAY28 DOV36 DOV30 DAY15 DAR28 RCH33 LVS30 TAL9 CLT37 KAN28 TEX28 MAR37 PHO2932nd276 J. J. Yeley BRI30
Car No. 27 history
At the 2019 Daytona 500, Casey Mears drove a No. 27 Chevy Camaro ZL1 that was built and crewed by Premium, but entered as a Germain Racing entry. Pat Tryson was the crew chief. This was Mears's first Cup start since 2016. The No. 27 was next entered at Auto Club Speedway, this time as a Premium entry driven by Reed Sorenson with Tommy Baldwin as crew chief.
Reed Sorenson made the starting lineup of the 2020 Daytona 500 after finishing 18th in Duel 1 of the 2020 Bluegreen Vacations Duels.
Car No. 27 results NASCAR Cup Series results Year Driver No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Owners Pts 2019 Reed Sorenson 27 Chevy DAY ATL LVS PHO CAL34 MAR TEX34 BRI RCH TAL18 DOV35 KAN35 CLT30 POC28 MCH SON35 CHI34 NHA27 POC32 GLN TAL22 KAN33 MAR33 37th 106 Ross Chastain DAY30 KEN TEX31 HOM35 Quin Houff MCH31 BRI30 RCH35 Joe Nemechek DAR31 LVS34 ROV31 DOV30 PHO34 Ryan Sieg IND24 2020 Reed Sorenson DAY31 LVS CAL PHO DAR DAR CLT CLT BRI ATL MAR HOM TAL POC POC IND KEN TEX KAN NHA MCH MCH DRC DOV DOV DAY DAR RCH BRI LVS TAL ROV KAN TEX MAR PHO 43rd 6
Car No. 40 history
In 2016, Premium Motorsports purchased the Hillman Racing No. 40 team and brought Mike Hillman as competition director. Hillman and Robinson attempted to field the No. 40 CRC Industries Chevrolet in the 2016 Daytona 500 for Reed Sorenson but failed to qualify. The 40 did not make another attempt for 2016.
Car No. 49 history
In 2012, the team announced its intent to compete in the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The team planned to race the full series schedule, running Toyotas, using the No. 49. J. J. Yeley and Tony Furr served as the driver and crew chief, respectively. The team had sponsorship for the Daytona 500 from America-Israel Racing, in order to educate people about Israel. One of the sponsors said that "being brought up Southern Baptist, I was always taught we stand behind Israel. This is a way I felt I could give back to society. It's something I believe in." Yeley also stated that JPO Absorbents will sponsor for about 8–10 races throughout the season. In its first outing, the team missed the field for the Daytona 500.
On October 22, 2012, the team sold off its Cup Series equipment in an auction to NEMCO Motorsports and Joe Nemechek, with Robinson becoming a partner in the renamed NEMCO-JRR Motorsports.
In October 2014, Mike Wallace, the regular driver for the Robinson-affiliated Identity Ventures Racing, ran the No. 49 Royal Teak Collection Toyota at Talladega.
Car No. 49 results NASCAR Sprint Cup Series results Year Driver No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Owners Pts 2012 J. J. Yeley 49 Toyota DAYDNQ PHO26 LVS43 BRI30 CAL35 MAR37 TEX33 KAN31 RCHDNQ TALDNQ DAR37 CLTDNQ DOV34 POC36 MCH37 SON33 KENDNQ DAY40 NHA43 IND POC 42nd 150 Jason Leffler GLN35 MCH BRI31 ATL38 RCH CHIDNQ NHADNQ DOVDNQ TAL CLT KAN MAR TEX PHO HOM 2014 Mike Wallace Toyota DAY PHO LVS BRI CAL MAR TEX DAR RCH TAL KAN CLT DOV POC MCH SON KEN DAY NHA IND POC GLN MCH BRI ATL RCH CHI NHA DOV KAN CLT TAL38 MAR TEX PHO HOM 50th 10
Car No. 51 History
At the 2018 Daytona 500, Justin Marks drove a No. 51 Chevy with Harry's Shave Club sponsoring. The points were leased from Rick Ware Racing.
Car No. 55 history
Mike Hillman, who was partnered with Joe Falk and his team was named as a partner for 2016, purchasing equipment from Hillman-Circle Sport LLC. The team returned in Martinsville for their 2016 debut. The number was changed from No. 62 to No. 55 with Reed Sorenson. The team made the race qualifying 40th out of 40 cars. The team would then make the races at both Texas and Bristol due to only 40 cars entered for both races, at Richmond there were 41 cars entered for the race but when qualifying was rained out and the field was set by practice speeds, the 55 team made the race due to being third fastest of the non-charter teams in practice. The 55 was driven by Michael Waltrip at Talladega; his 12th place would remain Robinson's best ever in Cup until the next restrictor plate race. Sorenson drove the next several races before being placed in the No. 98 starting at Pocono, with 98 driver Cole Whitt taking his place at this race and at Michigan, while Cody Ware drove at Sonoma; however, Ware failed to qualify. Sorenson returned at Daytona. Sorenson sat out Watkins Glen as well, with Alex Kennedy running the No. 55. The team has been forced to run many races without sponsorship; however, they did pick up PEAK Antifreeze for Talladega with Waltrip, the World Record Striper Company for Dover, the Sprint Showdown and the Coca-Cola 600 with Sorenson, long-time Robinson sponsor Vydox Plus at Pocono with Whitt, Carport Empire with Ware, and another longtime Robinson partner, Royal Teak Collection, with Sorenson at Daytona. In the second Talladega race, they surprised many by being the fastest in the first round of qualifying, then in the race, went to the garage at the opening laps to get the car ready for racing due to the car being impounded after qualifying.
The team got to a bad start in 2017, crashing out and not qualifying for the Daytona 500. After the Daytona 500, Derrike Cope came back to the Cup series to drive the No. 55, starting at Atlanta. The No. 55 team originally planned to run full-time, but skipped three races along the process.