Michael Waltrip Mixes Brands
Michael Waltrip Racing announced a 5 race deal to put semi-retired Bill Elliot in the #00 Chevy this season. Elliot who last ran in this years Daytona 500 will compete at Chicagoland Speedway on July 9, at New Hampshire International Speedway on July 16, at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Aug. 6, at California Speedway on Sept. 3 and at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 9.
“I am kind of still on loan from Ray,” said Elliott, speaking of Ray Evernham, team owner of Evernham Motorsports. “But we really have no plan put together for anything yet this year, and sometimes the door opens.”
The door opened and Elliot walked in which is a good thing for “Awesome Bill’s” fans. With Waltrip running Dodges for the Bill Davis organization and Mikey fielding the #00 Chevy it is a bit of an unusual brand mix-up. Mikey explains by way of a historical “neutral” geographical reference: “I’m Switzerland,” Waltrip said when asked why Elliott would use Chevrolets instead of the Dodges that Waltrip is racing. “I can drive anything I want, and we think Chevrolet has the car to beat.”
With the Dodges mostly sucking hind bosom that choice couldn’t have been too hard to make. It’s also probably a pre-curser to MWR’s two team Toyota effort for 2007.
Michael Waltrip Racing, Bill Davis Racing, NASCAR, NEXTEL Cup, Toyota, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle
i’m surprised you didn’t pick up on casey mear’s quote. when asked why ganassi hasn’t used one of his teams to run the ‘04 intrepid, casey said that ganassi doesn’t want to be dealing with three different makes of cars at one time. the article i read giving this quote said he was talking about the CoT, but may he have been talking about toyota? i think maybe yes.