UPDATE: Jennifer Jo Cobb Refused to Start-and-Park, Stands up for what is Right

Following an off week that the Nationwide Series had, Jennifer Jo Cobb and the 79 took to the track this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway. After making a qualifying run and putting the car in the 41st position, Cobb was told with less than 10 minutes before the start of the race that she would be black flagged by NASCAR if she did not Start-and-Park the car.

Within minutes team owner Rick Russell then asked K&N East driver Charles Lewandowski to drive the car, unable to get his gear in time, Rick turned the driving over to Chris Lawson to start the car in the race in which he ran several laps before parking the car behind the team hauler.

“There were rumblings all week about our team starting and parking. I have made a commitment to my sponsors, my fans and NASCAR that I’m not a start-and-park driver. I’m really serious about this. I have to work hard to prove to people that I’m serious about this. The conversation was never had with me until 10 minutes before the race started that I was to start and park.” Said Jo Cobb.

“I had already bought … tires to run this race, so you can imagine, it was a blow both to my principles and my finances to hear this. As the owner of this team, he has the right to ask NASCAR to black flag me and said he would do so. After thinking about it … I tried to come up with a solution and there are also rumblings around town that he was going to surprise me and take me out of the car at California (next week). We have a five-race agreement that says that I’m racing for him and that’s why I took the Nationwide points vs. the truck points”

Before the end of the race the crew chief Steve Kuykendall tweeted that he was officially out at 2nd Chance Motorsports along with Jo Cobb, along with letting people know that “Car owner Rick Russell threatened myself and anyone associated with Jennifer with a jack handle in the pits”.

“It feels like such a ‘Jerry Maguire’ moment. There were rumblings all week about us start and parking this race. I have a commitment to my sponsors, my fans, NASCAR that I won’t start and park. I’m very serious about my career and my performance, and I’ve worked hard to prove it to everyone. The conversation was never had with me until 10 minutes before the race that I was to start and park. I had already bought tires for the race, so you can imagine that this was a blow to my principles and my finances to get this news. As the owner of 2nd Chance, he has the right to ask NASCAR to black flag me and said he would do that if I didn’t comply. There were also rumors that he was going to surprise me and take me out of the car at California. We have a five race agreement that says I am racing for him, which is why I decided to collect Nationwide Series points and not Camping World Truck Series points. Because of those promises, I made decisions accordingly for my career. So after thinking about it for a few minutes, which there weren’t many, I made a decision to walk away. I thank God for giving me the strength to do that. Sometimes that is the best thing to do. I just felt like I owed it to my fans and my sponsors that I’m seeking and to NASCAR that if I say, ‘I’m here to race,’ that I go out and race.”

Following the race 2nd Chance Motorsports owner Rick Russell was interviewed by Dustin Long who then explained in his own words what he said transpired over the weekend from the meeting till Jennifer Jo Cobb got out of the car and took her crew with her.

“Five minutes before the race, she took her crew and left. We had a crew meeting here on Friday morning and I explained to everyone what our purpose was here this weekend. In Vegas we destroyed a car through Kyle Busch’s accident. We only had one car, so had to have the body completely replaced on the car except for the roof, decklid and rear bumper, so without a sponsor the total of about $16,000 about broke me to get this car together. We already had our entry in for here and California, so rather than try to roll this and lose this, we decided we’d come up here and I let everybody know we were here in a conservative mode. We would practice smart.  We would qualify and we would make a few laps and then we would park the car and save it for California.”

Asked if Jo Cobb was present at the meeting with the team and the owner on the decision to Start-And-Park, Russell had the following to say about Jo Cobb and the team meeting.

“They were informed Friday morning of this. Then this afternoon, the crew chief … he told me that they were getting together a pit crew and had bought tires. I said, “For what reason?’’ He said, “So we can change tires and finish the race without a DNF.’’ I said, “Who come up with this idea? The plan was, I told you Friday morning we weren’t doing that.’ I didn’t even bring my pit crew for that simple reason. So we had no pit crew. We were not going to pit. They took it on theirself to make this decision and then they wanted to make an agreement with me on pit road, and I said I’ll just have NASCAR black flag you and bring you in.

“She waited until five minutes until start time and told her crew chief and her other people that worked for her and they left. I’m sitting on pit road with a car without a driver and made myself look stupid, NASCAR look stupid, the whole bunch of us look stupid.’’

You pick up the pieces,” Cobb said. “People are resilient and nobody is more resilient than race teams and so you pick up the pieces and you pick up the phone and you start working with the other team owners that do understand like the one that already has approached me and told me he has a short-term solution for me.”