It looks like Scott Riggs will be next in line to take over the No. 66 Chevrolet at Haas CNC Racing. The team and Riggs are in serious discussion and the speculation is that the announcement may happen ‘within days’. Riggs future with Gillett Evernham was on shaky ground to begin with, but with the appearance of Canadian Patrick Carpentier to take over the No. 10 for next year, Riggs future at Gillett Evernham was doomed.
Coors Light will announce Tuesday a $20 million deal over five years to become the official beer of NASCAR starting in January. Coors replaces Anheuser-Busch as the official sponsor. The new deal includes renaming the pole award to the Coors Light Pole Award from the Bud Pole Award. For Coors, the NASCAR deal also replaces its sponsorship of the No. 40 Dodge in the Nextel Cup Series.
Mars U.S. was finalizing a deal Thursday to use its M&M’s brand to sponsor Kyle Busch when he moves to Joe Gibbs Racing next season. M&M’s would replace Interstate Batteries, which has sponsored Gibbs’ flagship No. 18 since its 1992 inception. J.D. Gibbs, president of the race team, didn’t respond to a request for comment. But two people familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press that Mars was working on a deal to sponsor Busch that will be officially announced next month at M&M’s World in New York City. They requested anonymity because the deal was not yet complete. The sponsorship would be a financial upgrade at JGR, which first partnered with Interstate 16 years ago. Interstate chairman Norm Miller is a close friend of Gibbs’, and Miller funded the No. 18 to help Gibbs launch what was then a single-car team. Bobby Labonte drove the car to a Cup championship in 2000. Interstate is expected to stay involved with JGR in a smaller role.
Tony Eury Jr. will leave Dale Earnhardt Inc. for Hendrick Motorsports earlier than expected, team officials confirmed on Thursday. Eury, who has been Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car or crew chief for all but one season since the two broke into the Nextel Cup Series in 2000, will step down after the Oct. 7 race at Talladega Superspeedway. He will be allowed to take four members of Earnhardt’s No. 8 team with him under a deal made by DEI when it agreed to free him contractually to join Earnhardt at HMS in 2008. DEI vice president John Story said he met with Eury’s crew this week and only one person has mentioned leaving thus far. Eury and Earnhardt could work together for HMS as early as the Car of Tomorrow test at Atlanta Motor Speedway following the October 28 race.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be in the No. 88 Chevrolet when he moves to Hendrick Motorsports next season, the team announced Wednesday. Earnhardt’s car will be sponsored by Pepsi, with the company’s Mountain Dew soft drink and Amp Energy drink featured on the car. The National Guard will also be involved in the sponsorship. The No. 88 was retired by Robert Yates Racing, which asked NASCAR to transfer the number to Hendrick for Earnhardt.
“Ralph Earnhardt drove the No. 88 Oldsmobile in 1957 and because of this number’s history with the Earnhardt family, I felt car No. 88 should continue with Dale Earnhardt Jr.,” Robert Yates said in a statement. “Younger fans don’t realize I built cars and raced against Ralph. I also had a very close relationship with Dale Earnhardt Sr. I’m proud to transfer this number to Dale Jr.”
It is being reported that Dale Earnhardt Jr. will drive the No 88 next season. As for sponsorship, his Chevrolets will carry two different paint scemes. The first car is white from the nose back to just past the door, then green with the Mountain Dew logos. The second Chevrolet is white with blue and has National Guard decals with the No. 88 in red, both have AMP energy drink logos on them.
Sun Media has been told that Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz has been in discussions to switch manufacturers from Toyota next year. Those in the know say that Mateschitz has been deeply disappointed about the results of both the No. 83 and No. 84 Red Bull Toyotas in the team’s inaugural Cup season. And he is not pointing the finger at either A.J. Allmendinger or Brian Vickers. The general feeling among team members is that Toyota has not stepped up with the kind of technological and engineering support that the team expected when it signed on with the Japanese auto giant.
What’s even more interesting is that there were reports earlier this year that said Toyota was going to drop Red Bull Racing to make room for Joe Gibbs Racing. Maybe Mateschitz thought that would Gibbs coming into the Toyota stable that would reduce the support he got from Toyota. so he decided to make a preemptive more for his teams.
Budweiser announced Gillett Evernham Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne will become the next world-class racer to take the wheel of the iconic red Budweiser car when the 2008 Sprint Cup season kicks off in February. “Budweiser has a long and storied history with NASCAR and some of its most successful drivers. We’re excited about Kasey’s ability to add to that outstanding lineage,” said Tony Ponturo, vice president, global media and sports marketing, Anheuser-Busch Inc. “Along with team owners George Gillett and Ray Evernham, we feel the pieces are in place for the No. 9 Budweiser Dodge to contend for NASCAR Sprint Cup championships for years to come.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr., of course, is moving from Dale Earnhardt Inc. to Hendrick Motorsports next year, and the final pieces of that puzzle will come together in Dallas, Texas. The Hendrick team has schedule a news conference on Wednesday to announce Earnhardt Jr.’s primary sponsor and to reveal the car number and paint scheme. Why Dallas? ESPN.com reported Thursday that there is a major meeting of Pepsi Cola Company executives there on Wednesday. That would jibe with sources who have told the Observer that Pepsi-owned Mountain Dew and Amp, an energy drink affiliated with the Mountain Dew brand, will be featured on Earnhardt Jr.’s cars.
On Tuesday, Gillett Evernham Motorsports has set a news conference to announce the primary sponsor for Kasey Kahne’s Dodges for 2008. Numerous sources and published reports have said that Budweiser will move to Kahne’s team after being on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No.. 8 Chevrolets.