Former champ within 10 days of finalizing details of the move
By David Newton, NASCAR.COM
May 5, 2006
06:19 PM EDT (22:19 GMT)
RICHMOND, Va. -- Michael Waltrip's Nextel Cup team is struggling at 36th in owner points, but preparations to launch his two Toyota teams into NASCAR's premier series next year are on the fast track.
Dale Jarrett said Friday at Richmond International Raceway that he is within 10 days of announcing future plans that reportedly have him leaving Robert Yates Racing for Michael Waltrip Racing.
"Just finalizing details," Jarrett said.
Bill Elliott tested one of Waltrip's Chevrolet Cup cars with a Toyota engine earlier this week at Lowe's Motor Speedway, and there are plans for more tests as the foreign manufacturer seeks approval from NASCAR.
The team is five weeks from moving into its 35,000-square-foot fabrication shop and another 35,000-square-foot facility has been leased until the new 125,000-square-foot shop in Cornelius, N.C., is completed.
Larry Carter, Rusty Wallace's former crew chief who was hired to organize the new shop, is in the process of building Cup cars that Elliott will drive in five races later this season.
Carter said Toyota plans to have its first Car of Tomorrow, which will be implemented into Cup next season, ready by the fall.
"Probably engineering is our weakest point right now," said Bobby Kennedy, Waltrip Racing's director of competition. "We do have a couple on board and we have talked with other ones, but most people are under contracts and we're not going to get ourselves in legal battles."
There is no legal battle for Jarrett, whose contract with RYR expires after this season. Signing the 1999 Cup champion will be key for several reasons.
Not only does Toyota get a marketable driver, it gets Jarrett's past champion's provisional that will ostensibly assure him a spot in the first five races next season when only the top 35 teams from 2006 are guaranteed a position.
"That's a big thing, him being a former champion and guaranteeing being in the race," Kennedy said. "He comes with a lot of experience, too. You wouldn't want to drag a rookie into this.
"You've got a building process with the team, so you want somebody that has been around that's seen the ropes."
Among the details being finalized are whether UPS, Jarrett's primary sponsor at Robert Yates Racing, will go with him. Jarrett said all the reports about his future haven't affected any of his options.
"Not at all," he said. "I know what's true and the people that I'm dealing with know what's true. It doesn't have any affect."
Jarrett, who is 10th in points heading to Saturday's race, jokingly said his yellow labrador retriever, Zoie, is the only one that knows all the details.
"Because I was pretty sure she didn't have many people she could go to, so we had a good conversation and I bounced it off her," he said. "Whenever she liked one of the options that I gave her she would lick me on the face."
Asked which option Zoie liked best, Jarrett smiled and said, "I told her I wouldn't tell if she wouldn't."
But Jarrett didn't mind talking about a potential working relationship with Waltrip.
"Yeah, I can see us working together," he said. "He'd be an interesting car owner for sure, if that were to happen, but we have a good enough friendship and relationship that it would be fun looking at the opportunity to build something there."
Jarrett was impressed with how Waltrip pulled off everything he has with the Toyota deal long before his name became associated with the foreign manufacturer.
"I actually told my wife, Kelley, that Michael Waltrip is getting ready to pull off the biggest thing that's happened in NASCAR in quite a while," he said. "I was very impressed that he kept it quiet as long as he did."
Waltrip's current Cup team with Bill Davis Racing hasn't done so well. He's finished 25th or worse in seven of nine races, with no finish better than his 18th at Daytona.
His car was 44th on the speed charts during Friday's practice, which put him in danger of not making the field.
Kennedy and others with Waltrip's Toyota team came to Richmond to help improve the situation.
"This is kind of a distraction to pull away from what we're doing on the Toyota side of it," Kennedy said. "But we've got some issues there with the 55 car and their struggles with communication.
"We're trying to help out on our end to help bridge that gap between the rest of the competition."
I hope D.J. stays with Yates, but I think Toyota made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
Hopefully Mikey will make a better car owner than he has been a racer. Mikey is a mediocre driver at best. He has good public persona and he's a good p.r. guy. That's the only reason, I think, Toyota chose him.
It's kinda sad to see D.J. end his career like this.
By David Newton, NASCAR.COM
May 5, 2006
06:19 PM EDT (22:19 GMT)
RICHMOND, Va. -- Michael Waltrip's Nextel Cup team is struggling at 36th in owner points, but preparations to launch his two Toyota teams into NASCAR's premier series next year are on the fast track.
Dale Jarrett said Friday at Richmond International Raceway that he is within 10 days of announcing future plans that reportedly have him leaving Robert Yates Racing for Michael Waltrip Racing.
"Just finalizing details," Jarrett said.
Bill Elliott tested one of Waltrip's Chevrolet Cup cars with a Toyota engine earlier this week at Lowe's Motor Speedway, and there are plans for more tests as the foreign manufacturer seeks approval from NASCAR.
The team is five weeks from moving into its 35,000-square-foot fabrication shop and another 35,000-square-foot facility has been leased until the new 125,000-square-foot shop in Cornelius, N.C., is completed.
Larry Carter, Rusty Wallace's former crew chief who was hired to organize the new shop, is in the process of building Cup cars that Elliott will drive in five races later this season.
Carter said Toyota plans to have its first Car of Tomorrow, which will be implemented into Cup next season, ready by the fall.
"Probably engineering is our weakest point right now," said Bobby Kennedy, Waltrip Racing's director of competition. "We do have a couple on board and we have talked with other ones, but most people are under contracts and we're not going to get ourselves in legal battles."
There is no legal battle for Jarrett, whose contract with RYR expires after this season. Signing the 1999 Cup champion will be key for several reasons.
Not only does Toyota get a marketable driver, it gets Jarrett's past champion's provisional that will ostensibly assure him a spot in the first five races next season when only the top 35 teams from 2006 are guaranteed a position.
"That's a big thing, him being a former champion and guaranteeing being in the race," Kennedy said. "He comes with a lot of experience, too. You wouldn't want to drag a rookie into this.
"You've got a building process with the team, so you want somebody that has been around that's seen the ropes."
Among the details being finalized are whether UPS, Jarrett's primary sponsor at Robert Yates Racing, will go with him. Jarrett said all the reports about his future haven't affected any of his options.
"Not at all," he said. "I know what's true and the people that I'm dealing with know what's true. It doesn't have any affect."
Jarrett, who is 10th in points heading to Saturday's race, jokingly said his yellow labrador retriever, Zoie, is the only one that knows all the details.
"Because I was pretty sure she didn't have many people she could go to, so we had a good conversation and I bounced it off her," he said. "Whenever she liked one of the options that I gave her she would lick me on the face."
Asked which option Zoie liked best, Jarrett smiled and said, "I told her I wouldn't tell if she wouldn't."
But Jarrett didn't mind talking about a potential working relationship with Waltrip.
"Yeah, I can see us working together," he said. "He'd be an interesting car owner for sure, if that were to happen, but we have a good enough friendship and relationship that it would be fun looking at the opportunity to build something there."
Jarrett was impressed with how Waltrip pulled off everything he has with the Toyota deal long before his name became associated with the foreign manufacturer.
"I actually told my wife, Kelley, that Michael Waltrip is getting ready to pull off the biggest thing that's happened in NASCAR in quite a while," he said. "I was very impressed that he kept it quiet as long as he did."
Waltrip's current Cup team with Bill Davis Racing hasn't done so well. He's finished 25th or worse in seven of nine races, with no finish better than his 18th at Daytona.
His car was 44th on the speed charts during Friday's practice, which put him in danger of not making the field.
Kennedy and others with Waltrip's Toyota team came to Richmond to help improve the situation.
"This is kind of a distraction to pull away from what we're doing on the Toyota side of it," Kennedy said. "But we've got some issues there with the 55 car and their struggles with communication.
"We're trying to help out on our end to help bridge that gap between the rest of the competition."
I hope D.J. stays with Yates, but I think Toyota made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
Hopefully Mikey will make a better car owner than he has been a racer. Mikey is a mediocre driver at best. He has good public persona and he's a good p.r. guy. That's the only reason, I think, Toyota chose him.
It's kinda sad to see D.J. end his career like this.
