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A NOTE TO ALL READERS:
WE ARE CURRENTLY UNDER RECONSTRUCTION. WE WILL RETURN SOON WITH ALL THE LATEST NEWS AND RUMOURS FROM OUR CRACK STAFF.
SILLY SEASON KICKS IT UP A NOTCH
By: Fred Wilson (GR&D)October 1, 2005
The biggest commodities of the 2005/2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Silly Season have landed where they have been rumoured to go for several months. Michael Waltrip and his sponsor for the last five seasons, NAPA Auto Parts, have signed on with Bill Davis Racing for the 2006 Nextel Cup Season. The deal will place Waltrip in a BDR Dodge for at least one year. Waltrip is intrigued by the prospect of driving a Toyota Cup car in 2007. A new rumour floating around Waltrip is that he may jump ship to his brother, Darrell's, team. With Toyota coming to Cup in 2007, one would logically assume that it would want its truck teams to try racing Cup. If Darrell Waltrip doesn't jump to Cup. We expect Waltrip to be in with Davis for a few more years.
Roush Racing and Penske Racing are both working on getting their future 2007 drivers into their cars a season early. McMurray has told the media that he would like to move to Roush a year early but that depends on "the people above him" working out a deal. The same holds true for Kurt Busch. Lawyers are working to move up Busch's departure from the Roush camp a season. There has been talk in the past of Gannasi, Roush, and Penske working out a deal for 2006 but those rumours appear to have died down substancially.
Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman are missing one key component in their hunt for the 2006 Nextel Cup title. A driver. The two owners of Hall Of Fame Racing are still in the driver search process. Currently, the two former NFL quarterbacks have several drivers on their short list for next season. Paul Tracy, 2003 Champ Car World Series champion, was the first one noted by the press, but his agent claims PT has a deal with his CCWS team, Forsythe Racing, for 2006 and 2007. Sterling Marlin was on the short list until signing with MB2. Mike Wallace who may be out of the #4 Morgan-McClure Chevy is on the short list with Tony Raines driver of the #37 Dodge for R&J Racing. Finally, Ward Burton, 2002 Daytona 500 winner, is also said to be on the short list for HOF.
A last Paul Tracy note, according to sources inside Richard Childress Racing, PT's long-awaited NASCAR debut is upcoming. The Champ Car star and the series' most popular driver is set to run the Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on October 30. The only snag may be that Tracy will run the final race on the Champ Car schedule the next weekend in Mexico City on the full layout of the track the Busch Series visited earlier this year.