Ginn set to merge with DEI

Although an official announcement will be made later today, it is expected that DEI will become a four-car team from next weekend's race at Indianapolis, and Ginn Racing, formerly a three-car team, will disappear.

DEI will absorb the No. 01 team of Mark Martin, who shared his drive with Regan Smith and was set to have Aric Almirola as his co-driver for the remainder of the year. It is unclear yet if Smith or Almirola will fill in for Martin when he sits out an event.

Meanwhile, the No. 14 car driven by Sterling Marlin and the No. 13 car driven by Joe Nemechek will be eliminated. The former will have its owner points transferred to DEI driver Paul Menard, putting him inside the top-35 in the car owner standings, guaranteeing him a place on the grid for the coming races.

Only last year Bobby Ginn bought MB2 Motorsport, expanding their two-car Nextel Cup team to three cars along with a Busch Series one-car team. However, they have struggled to get enough financial backing and only the No. 01 car has full sponsorship from the US Army.

The merger is likely to strengthen DEI's operation and expand it to Ginn Racing's headquarters in Mooresville, North Carolina, the same town where the team is based at. They can also add Mark Martin to their driver line up, who will probably continue to race a limited schedule next year.

Earlier this year, DEI had already announced their engine program was merging with the one from Richard Childress Racing, already running the same engines for the first time in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona earlier this month.

Ginn Racing came close to winning the Daytona 500 in February this year with Martin at the wheel and engine support from Hendrick Motorsports.