By Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM
August 25, 2006
10:00 PM EDT (02:00 GMT)
BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Jeremy Mayfield got a sneak preview last Tuesday of what he's got to look forward to for the next three years in Bill Davis Racing's Toyotas, and the Kentucky veteran likes what he saw.
On Friday morning at Bristol Motor Speedway, Davis announced Mayfield's deal to drive one of his Toyota Camrys, carrying No. 36, beginning in 2007. A new sponsor to the Nextel Cup Series, 360 OTC, will back the effort.
Davis, as expected, also confirmed that Dave Blaney would return for his second consecutive season in his second tour of duty with BDR, driving the No. 22 Caterpillar Camry.
"We haven't had a great deal of success this year but we've been trying to get better every weekend," Blaney said. "I had hoped that we would continue on because I knew better things were coming here at Bill Davis Racing.
"I'm excited about next year because I got to drive the first [Toyota] Monday and it was very good."
"I like Dave a lot and I think it's going to be a good teammate situation," Mayfield said. "He's a great, level-headed driver and I feel like he can help me and I can help him.
"We're both secure in our roles as drivers at Bill Davis Racing and when you have that, you don't have any of the cutthroat stuff going on, where you're not trying to help each other [so] I think it will be a good situation."
Mayfield, for his part, said he was also on the verge of announcing plans to compete in either the Busch or Craftsman Truck Series for most of the balance of this season.
Davis said he was uncertain what, if any, racing action he could promise Mayfield in one of his Cup cars for the final 12 races.
"As far as racing, we haven't really talked about that because so far we've just been trying to get to [Friday and making the announcement]," Davis said. "But we'd love to, because it would be a good head start on next year. Testing is testing, but racing is racing so we'll just have to see what shakes out."
Mayfield said his part-time action could begin as early as next weekend at California Speedway, a track at which he has one of his five career Cup victories.
"I definitely want to race somewhere, or race something -- whether it's a Busch car, a truck or whatever -- even a Cup car," Mayfield said. "But I just want to get in the right situation.
"I don't want to get into anything and just ride around. I've got to make sure that any time I get into a car that it's fast and it runs good. I think that will help me stay in tune with all the new stuff coming out.
"People are changing setups all the time and I just want to make sure I keep myself up to speed."
Both Mayfield and Blaney tested a Toyota Car of Tomorrow this past week for Davis: Blaney at Michigan International Speedway on Monday and Mayfield at Kentucky Speedway on Tuesday.
Mayfield, who worked at his test with an engineering group that included Todd Holbert of BDR affiliate Triad Racing Development, was enthused about that session and the promise it indicated for the future.
"The test was awesome," Mayfield said. "It gave me a lot of confidence knowing that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
"The car drove great and I was really impressed that, the first time out in the Car of Tomorrow, being a Toyota Camry and involving all new stuff for me, to be able to run as great as we did.
"It was a deal where nothing weird was going on, you could drive the car and tell them what it was doing. It responded to every change that we made, and when you've got cars that respond that well and drive that good, we'll hopefully be in Victory Lane pretty soon."
Mayfield's crew chief wasn't announced, and the driver said there was a chance he would be paired with Tommy Baldwin, who won the 2002 Daytona 500 with Ward Burton for Bill Davis Racing.
"Tommy's taken over the role of looking over both teams [at BDR] but he could very well be my crew chief starting in 2007," Mayfield said. "Tommy and I have worked together before [at Evernham Motorsports] and I like him.
"He brings a lot of experience back to Bill Davis Racing and [he and Davis] were a good combination and had some success before. Tommy knows what I like and that's something that's going to help us, so I figure we're already ahead of schedule there."
The announcement was the latest bright spot in nearly three weeks for Mayfield, 37, who was released by Ray Evernham as the driver of Evernham's No. 19 Dodge, before the Watkins Glen weekend on Aug. 18.
Davis said that before he had any conversations with Mayfield, his newest driver had a release letter from Evernham giving him permission to talk to other owners.
"I've been so excited about Toyota and next year with Bill Davis Racing that I haven't really felt badly about this whole situation," Mayfield said. "I've been pretty positive because all the positives outweigh the negative [of being released].
"The future for me and Bill Davis Racing is what I'm looking forward to and what keeps me motivated."
Davis and Mayfield plan a heavy test schedule of their new Toyotas for the balance of this season.
"For the amount of testing that we're talking about doing, I think we'll definitely have a leg up on pretty much everybody out there," Mayfield said. "We'll be able to test more than anyone because I don't have a lot to do right now, but test.
"So if we're not running a Busch car or a truck or another Cup car, we'll be testing every week, hopefully, to get a lot of laps and figure these things out real quick, so we'll have a good head start on next season."
August 25, 2006
10:00 PM EDT (02:00 GMT)
BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Jeremy Mayfield got a sneak preview last Tuesday of what he's got to look forward to for the next three years in Bill Davis Racing's Toyotas, and the Kentucky veteran likes what he saw.
On Friday morning at Bristol Motor Speedway, Davis announced Mayfield's deal to drive one of his Toyota Camrys, carrying No. 36, beginning in 2007. A new sponsor to the Nextel Cup Series, 360 OTC, will back the effort.
Davis, as expected, also confirmed that Dave Blaney would return for his second consecutive season in his second tour of duty with BDR, driving the No. 22 Caterpillar Camry.
"We haven't had a great deal of success this year but we've been trying to get better every weekend," Blaney said. "I had hoped that we would continue on because I knew better things were coming here at Bill Davis Racing.
"I'm excited about next year because I got to drive the first [Toyota] Monday and it was very good."
"I like Dave a lot and I think it's going to be a good teammate situation," Mayfield said. "He's a great, level-headed driver and I feel like he can help me and I can help him.
"We're both secure in our roles as drivers at Bill Davis Racing and when you have that, you don't have any of the cutthroat stuff going on, where you're not trying to help each other [so] I think it will be a good situation."
Mayfield, for his part, said he was also on the verge of announcing plans to compete in either the Busch or Craftsman Truck Series for most of the balance of this season.
Davis said he was uncertain what, if any, racing action he could promise Mayfield in one of his Cup cars for the final 12 races.
"As far as racing, we haven't really talked about that because so far we've just been trying to get to [Friday and making the announcement]," Davis said. "But we'd love to, because it would be a good head start on next year. Testing is testing, but racing is racing so we'll just have to see what shakes out."
Mayfield said his part-time action could begin as early as next weekend at California Speedway, a track at which he has one of his five career Cup victories.
"I definitely want to race somewhere, or race something -- whether it's a Busch car, a truck or whatever -- even a Cup car," Mayfield said. "But I just want to get in the right situation.
"I don't want to get into anything and just ride around. I've got to make sure that any time I get into a car that it's fast and it runs good. I think that will help me stay in tune with all the new stuff coming out.
"People are changing setups all the time and I just want to make sure I keep myself up to speed."
Both Mayfield and Blaney tested a Toyota Car of Tomorrow this past week for Davis: Blaney at Michigan International Speedway on Monday and Mayfield at Kentucky Speedway on Tuesday.
Mayfield, who worked at his test with an engineering group that included Todd Holbert of BDR affiliate Triad Racing Development, was enthused about that session and the promise it indicated for the future.
"The test was awesome," Mayfield said. "It gave me a lot of confidence knowing that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
"The car drove great and I was really impressed that, the first time out in the Car of Tomorrow, being a Toyota Camry and involving all new stuff for me, to be able to run as great as we did.
"It was a deal where nothing weird was going on, you could drive the car and tell them what it was doing. It responded to every change that we made, and when you've got cars that respond that well and drive that good, we'll hopefully be in Victory Lane pretty soon."
Mayfield's crew chief wasn't announced, and the driver said there was a chance he would be paired with Tommy Baldwin, who won the 2002 Daytona 500 with Ward Burton for Bill Davis Racing.
"Tommy's taken over the role of looking over both teams [at BDR] but he could very well be my crew chief starting in 2007," Mayfield said. "Tommy and I have worked together before [at Evernham Motorsports] and I like him.
"He brings a lot of experience back to Bill Davis Racing and [he and Davis] were a good combination and had some success before. Tommy knows what I like and that's something that's going to help us, so I figure we're already ahead of schedule there."
The announcement was the latest bright spot in nearly three weeks for Mayfield, 37, who was released by Ray Evernham as the driver of Evernham's No. 19 Dodge, before the Watkins Glen weekend on Aug. 18.
Davis said that before he had any conversations with Mayfield, his newest driver had a release letter from Evernham giving him permission to talk to other owners.
"I've been so excited about Toyota and next year with Bill Davis Racing that I haven't really felt badly about this whole situation," Mayfield said. "I've been pretty positive because all the positives outweigh the negative [of being released].
"The future for me and Bill Davis Racing is what I'm looking forward to and what keeps me motivated."
Davis and Mayfield plan a heavy test schedule of their new Toyotas for the balance of this season.
"For the amount of testing that we're talking about doing, I think we'll definitely have a leg up on pretty much everybody out there," Mayfield said. "We'll be able to test more than anyone because I don't have a lot to do right now, but test.
"So if we're not running a Busch car or a truck or another Cup car, we'll be testing every week, hopefully, to get a lot of laps and figure these things out real quick, so we'll have a good head start on next season."