Diversified Motorsports Enterprises, formerly JJL Motorsports and Team Little Racing, was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series as well as the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and West. The team was owned by the Little family from 2012 to 2019. In 2020, they sold the team to Logan Puckett, the owner of Diversified Utility Group, one of the team's sponsors in 2019.

History

East Series

The team, then known as Team Little Racing, was formed in 2012.

Jesse Little Jesse Hardin Little (born April 15, 1997) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series driving the No. 34 Chevrolet Camaro for Jesse Iwuji Motorsports and part-time in the NA ...

, the son of the team's owner, former driver Chad Little, made his NASCAR debut. He drove the No. 97 (the car number Chad drove in the Cup Series for Mark Rypien Motorsports and Roush Racing) part-time in 2012, full-time in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, part-time in 2015 and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

. Little won 1 race driving for his family team which came at

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

in 2014.

West Series

Jesse Little and the team would enter the No. 97 car at the season-finale at Phoenix in

and

as well as both races at

Kern County Raceway Park Kern County Raceway Park is a oval speedway located on CA 43 (Enos Lane) just off Interstate 5 in Bakersfield, Kern County, California, United States. Opened in 2013, it was built as a replacement for Mesa Marin Raceway. Kern Coun ...

in 2014.

Truck Series

In 2015, the team made their Truck Series debut at Dover, fielding No. 97 Toyota Tundra in a partnership with

ThorSport Racing ThorSport Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The team was founded in 1996 as SealMaster Racing and is based in Sandusky, Ohio. Owned by Duke Thorson and his wife ...

, but an early crash ended Jesse Little's day early finishing 30th. The team also attempted the Chicagoland race but also finished 30th. The team returned at Texas and Homestead and finished 15th at Texas and 14th at Homestead respectively. In 2016, the team was renamed to JJL Motorsports. The No. 97 truck made two attempts in the fall races at Texas and Homestead finishing 20th and 18th respectively. In 2017, Jesse Little returned to the No. 97 truck, running 4 races. The first one was at Dover, where he finished 14th. Jesse Little then finished a season best 8th in Iowa. Little next raced at Bristol, continuing his strong performance, finishing 13th. His last start of 2017 came in Phoenix, where he was involved in a late race crash, finishing 18th. In 2018, JJL Motorsports and Jesse Little returned for 9 races, and the team also switched manufacturers from

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

, keeping their alliance with ThorSport, who also switched from Toyota to Ford that year. As part of this switch, JJL acquired trucks and equipment from the closed

Brad Keselowski Racing Brad Keselowski Racing was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Started in 2007, it was owned and operated by NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series champion Brad Keselowski. The tea ...

team, which is why their trucks were the same blue color that Keselowski's trucks had used to run. Little finished with six top tens, the highest finish a 6th at

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

, the team's best finish to date in the Truck Series. The team also had other drivers besides Jesse Little in the truck for the first time. Dirt ringer R. J. Otto Jr. drove the truck at Eldora but failed to qualify for the race. Roger Reuse drove the No. 97 at

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly Mosport Park and Mosport International Raceway) is a multi- track motorsport venue located north of Bowmanville, in Ontario, Canada, east of Toronto. The facility features a , 10-turn road course; a ad ...

in a collaboration with

Jordan Anderson Racing Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport is an American professional stock car racing team that competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, fielding the No. 31 Chevrolet Camaro full-time for Myatt Snider, the No. 32 part-time for owner Jordan Ande ...

. In 2019, JJL and Jesse Little increased their schedule again, planning to run 12 to 15 races in the newly renamed

Gander Outdoors Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of t ...

. The team announced over the summer that following the 2019 season, they were looking to sell the team to a new owner, as driver Jesse Little was looking to move up to the Cup or Xfinity Series in 2020. Little eventually was announced to run in the Xfinity Series full-time for

JD Motorsports JD Motorsports, is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. It is owned and operated by Johnny Davis. It currently fields two Chevrolet Camaro SS teams: The No. 4 for Bayley Currey and ...

. Before the season-ending

Ford EcoBoost 200 The Baptist Health 200 is an annual 200-mile (321.869 km) NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race held at the Homestead–Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida. The race began as a 250-mile race in 1996, but beginning with the 2002 season, the ...

, it was announced that Logan Puckett, the president of Diversified Utility Group LLC, would be purchasing the team, and renaming it to Diversified Motorsports Enterprises for the 2020 season. His company also sponsored the No. 97 truck at

Homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres *Homestead principle, a legal concept t ...

, the team's final race with the Little family as the owners of the team. Although his uncle Jason will no longer be an owner of the team, Jesse Little was still announced as the driver for DME in their part-time 2020 schedule, beginning at

Daytona Daytona refers to the city of Daytona Beach, Florida, or things named after it. Daytona may also refer to: Locations * Daytona Beach Shores, Florida * South Daytona, Florida * The Daytona Beach metropolitan area * Halifax area, also known as Da ...

. The transfer of ownership was completed on December 20. He and

Robby Lyons Robert Lyons II (born January 22, 1989) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 61 Toyota Supra for MBM Motorsports. He has also competed part-time in the NAS ...

would drive the No. 97 truck part-time in 2020. The team did not attempt any races in 2021.

References

External links

{{Ford in NASCAR American auto racing teams NASCAR teams Defunct NASCAR teams Companies based in North Carolina