Stewart to drive #14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevy in ’09
Yet another of the Tony Stewart Silly Season dominoes has fallen into place today, as Tony Stewart and officials from Office Depot and Old Spice announce a partnership for the 2009 season and beyond, as has been rumored for weeks. Answering more questions about Stewart’s first season as a driver owner, is the unveiling of the No. 14 as the car number that Stewart will drive.
Office Depot is the current sponsor of Carl Edwards’ No. 99 Roush Fenway Ford and has been for the past several seasons. The company decided not to re-up with the team, because the sponsorship cost was out of their price range. Partnering with Old Spice allows both companies to receive primary exposure with a top driver, at half of the cost for a full season. Old Spice has been a Stewart sponsor for nine years, appearing as an associate sponsor on his Cup car and at times as a primary sponsor with him in the Nationwide Series.
Aflac will be the primary sponsor for Edwards next year, as the paint scheme for that car also was revealed today. Edwards was scheduled to be a free agent after this season, but signed a multi-year deal with Roush Fenway Racing several weeks ago.
Stewart’s choice for a car number also is not very surprising, because the No.14 is the number that A.J. Foyt, Stewart’s racing hero, raced for many years. Foyt also fielded his own fledgling Sprint Cup entry with the No. 14 earlier this decade, using several drivers, including his grandson Larry Foyt. Stewart once raced in the Indy Racing League, is from Indiana, and still holds open-wheel racing close to his heart.
Still to be decided for Stewart Hass Racing are the driver sponsor and number for the operation’s 2nd team. Rumors have been circulating for weeks that Ryan Newman will be the driver for that team and today there is speculation that the team is seeking to acquire the No. 4, which Morgan McClure Motorsports ran for many years, before ceasing operations prior to this season. Stewart and the team also have not decided whether or not the No. 66 or No. 70 teams will be replaced by the No. 14.
Labonte in for Petty at Indy and Carpentier at Pocono
As much seat time as Terry Labonte has gotten over the last few weeks, it is surprising that Mark Martin is the only driver that gets ribbed for not fully retiring. After spending the past two months in the Petty Enterprises No. 45 Dodge, Terry Labonte will use his championship provisional to guarantee his team a starting spot in the Brickyard 400. The team’s full-time driver, Kyle Petty, is scheduled to return to the driver’s seat at Pocono, next week.
Speaking of Pocono, Labonte will then switch teams and strap into the No. 10 Gillett Evernham Motorsports Dodge, normally driven by Patrick Carpentier, for that race. Carpentier is running the Nationwide Series race in Montreal that weekend, and GEM officials want him focused on that race.
Speaking of road courses…
Villeneuve to race for Robby in Montreal; Papis to race for Hass at the Glen
Jacques Villeneuve’s foray into NASCAR has been stunted by a lack of sponsorship and by a lack of experience behind the wheel of a stock car on oval tracks. His prowess and experience on road courses has him back in the sport, as officials at Robby Gordon Motorsports announced this week that he will run for the team in the Nationwide Series Monteral team.
Hass CNC’s Joe Custer also announced this week that Jason Leffler will drive the No. 70 Chevy in the Cup races at the Brickyard and at Pocono and Max Papis will wheel the car at Watkins Glen. Papis raced the No. 66 Chevy into the field for Hass back at Infineon, in June.
Stremme to the No. 12? Evernham in play for free agent drivers?
David Stremme’s name has emerged as a leading candidate for the open No. 12 seat at Penske Racing next season. Stremme currently is a test driver for Penske and reportedly has turned down multiple offers from back of the pack Cup teams, in search of the right competitive ride. Other drivers in the mix for the ride include Casey Mears and Martin Truex Jr.
Sam Hornish Jr. is not, however. The driver of the No. 77 Penske Dodge this week cleared the air in an interview, saying that he will not slip into the more-competitive team in his stable. He says he is scheduled to remain with his team.
Many free agent names besides Newman, Truex Jr., and Mears are floating around the garage and team owner Ray Evernham says that his team may be in search of another driver. Evernham did say that if the team added a driver, that person would not replace any people currently in his stable. Drivers Kasey Kahne and Elliott Sadler are locked into multi-year deals and Patrick Carpentier is showing signs of improvement and acclimation in the No. 10 car. Evernham says that if sponsorship can be found, he and the team would try and start a 4th team.
Penalties upheld against No. 1 team, Greci in for Manion
The National Stock Car Racing Commission has upheld the penalties levied against the No. 1 Bass Pro Shops Chevy team, for a rule infraction at Daytona three weeks ago. Officials at DEI argued that some of the penalty should stay in place, but that docking the team 150 driver’s and owner’s points and suspending crew chief Kevin Manion were harsh penalties.
Mike Greci, who worked with Truex in his Camping World East Series days, will replace Manion atop the pit box. Manion returns at Richmond, in September.
Kyle Busch, Riggs, and Kvapil tire test at AMS; Clark wants more testing
Kyle Busch is always in a racecar. At the Atlanta Motor Speedway this past Monday and Tuesday, Busch and Scott Riggs and Travis Kvapil each tested Goodyear tires in hopes of helping Goodyear come up with a better tire than it brought to last March’s Atlanta race, where drivers struggled to pass each other and teams had nightmares trying to find the right setups for cars.
All three drivers say that the tire combinations Goodyear has in store for the October race at AMS will provide much better racing, while still remaining safe. According to Track President Ed Clark, Goodyear has a tough order in trying to make a safe tire, that also has enough grip.
Busch, Riggs, and Kvapil each also answered questions regarding the Silly Season. Busch says that Joey Logano, the leading candidate for the No. 20 seat vacated by Tony Stewart, is talented and is ready to take that ride, if Joe Gibbs Racing makes that decision.
Scott Riggs says that he has no idea what his future holds at Stewart Hass Racing and in the Cup Series. He says that he has been in contact with several teams about rides, but did not elaborate.
Travis Kvapil says that he has not talked to other teams about rides for next season, because he is dedicated to remaining at Yates Racing. He says that he believes that his sponsorship, or lack thereof, will soon no longer in limbo for the No. 28 team. Both he and teammate David Gilliland in the No. 38 Ford have contracts that expire after this season, but both are expected to sign with their teams.
AMS President Ed Clark took time at the platform on Tuesday to say that he wants the media’s help to campaign NASCAR to return to open testing. Currently, the sport’s crew chiefs convene and decide several tracks that every team can test at. The teams then find non-NASCAR Sprint Cup Series tracks that are similar to Cup tracks they cannot test at, and test at those. NASCAR instituted the testing policy, to cut down on costs for smaller teams. Clark claims that the policy does not reduce costs and needs to be changed.
Labonte and Georgia’s Rex White inducted into ‘Dega Walk of Fame
Fans this week voted driver 2000 NASCAR Cup Champion Bobby Labonte and 1960 NASCAR Cup Champion Rex White into the Talladega-Texaco Walk of Fame. The driver’s will be enshrined at the monument built in memory of Davey Allison, prior to the October race at the track.
JTG Racing to debut in Cup with Ambrose at Indy
JTG Racing has wasted no time expanding. After announcing that it will field a full-time Sprint Cup entry next season, the team has built a car in-house for Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Driver Marcos Ambrose, who will run with the team next season, will pilot the car. Little Debbie will sponsor the car with No. 47 painted on the sides. Former Robby Gordon Motorsports and Michael Waltrip Racing crew chief Frank Kerr will lead the team.
Tune in to the Bellamy Strickland 120 with Captain Herb Emory and myself, for live updates from the Brickyard, this Saturday, from 2-4 p.m., on News/Talk 750 WSB and on wsbradio.com.
