12/4/04… NVE Pharmaceuticals, owner of the Stacker 2 and YJ Stinger brands, is reported to have left the Busch Series in the lurch. The corporation contracted to sponsor the Busch Series event at Dover International Speedway (DIS) last Sept 25th.

According to a complaint filed in Delaware's Newcastle County Superior Court, the Speedway was not paid for the race sponsorship, nor did NVE Pharmaceuticals spend the amount of money agreed upon to market the event.

Big time racing costs money, even the number two NASCAR series isn't cheap. NVE is reported to have agreed to pay DIS $350k to have the Stacker 2 and YJ Stinger brand names associated with the event, and were also supposed to spend an additional $325k to market the event.

This reported development poses the question as to the validity of the team sponsorship for the #23 Bill Davis Racing (BDR) Chevy driven by Kenny Wallace. Wallace and BDR have been associated a long time, and have had the Stacker 2 sponsorship in the Cup Series as well as the Busch Series. The #23 is listed on the 2005 team roster, but as we all are aware of, things can happen in the off-season between now and Daytona that could put the #23 on the track without a sponsor.

Team Rensi Motorsports has hired Charlie Lewis as crew chief for his brother, Ashton Lewis, on the #25 Marine Corp. sponsored Ford. You'll all remember that Bobby Hamilton Jr. made that ride infamous as a fierce competitor in the Busch Series before taking the seat in the #32 Tide ride in the Cup Series, which was vacated by the firing of Ricky Craven. With his brother calling the shots, Ashton Lewis should also be a top competitor in the Rensi entry.

Mike Wallace, older brother of the infamous Wallace brothers racing trio, is leaving Biagi Brothers Racing. Wallace has been driving their Busch Series #4 GEICO sponsored Ford since the 2001 season, and took the entry to Victory Lane this past summer at Daytona. With this major victory, Biagi Brothers Racing became just the third non-Cup affiliated team to win a Busch Series event at Daytona since 1982.

The exact reason for Wallace's departure hasn't been publicized, but both the Biagi's and sponsor GEICO have nothing but great things to say about him. He came on board with the developmental Busch Series team in its infancy and helped it progress to the point where the Biagi's are considering a move into the Cup Series on a part time developmental basis.

Wallace is now free to pursue driving opportunities in both the Cup and Busch Series, as well as a few possible runs in the Craftsman Truck Series. I'm sure we'll be seeing more of the seasoned veteran driver who has boosted his career during his three season tenure with Biagi Brothers Racing.

12/11/04… Toyota lost one of its teams, and will no doubt lose another as the off season posturing culminates to a new 2005 beginning. The problem with Toyota is that they are only present in the Craftsman Truck Series. In order for a team owner to progress up the ladder into the Busch and Cup Series, they must choose an auto manufacturer. Toyota doesn't have a presence in Busch or Cup so any Toyota Truck Series team who wants to move up, has to dump Toyota to do it!

Bang Racing will field Dodges in the Busch and maybe the Truck Series in 2005, giving 2003 Craftsman Truck Series Champion Travis Kvapil a limited schedule in the Dodge Busch Series entry. Kvapil will also compete for the Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors full time in the Cup Series driving the #77 Penske/Jasper Dodge.

Jason Leffler has had his share of shortcomings during his career. I remember in the Truck Series when he was coming in second consistently, looking for that elusive victory. Leffler was doing great this season in the Busch Series driving the #00 for Haas CNC Racing. Then with only seven races remaining in the 2004 season, the bottom fell out, and he was released.

The problem was though, releasing him constituted a breach of contract, and on top of that, he was in the third position in driver's points vying for the Busch Series Championship. Leffler has sued Haas CNC Racing in a North Carolina federal court, for unspecified damages for his un-ceremonial release. It always creates hard feelings within the motorsports community when the courts end up being involved in disputes. It will also add an unwanted stigma to Leffler's career that will affect him adversely when looking for future driver employment.

I'm amused by the news surrounding Kenny Wallace and the Stacker 2 sponsorship. There's been a back and forth comical rumor surrounding Wallace and his sponsor moving from Bill Davis Racing to Michael Waltrip Racing for the 2005 season. First it's on, and then it's off! Thing is, will Stacker 2 even be around next season? Given its problems in court over being consistently sued for its products performance problems, one could easily have their doubts. Don't be surprised if Stacker 2 drops the ball on Wallace and leaves him, and whoever wins the see-saw battle, hanging in the lurch.

12/25/04… Sterling Marlin will be driving the #40 Dodge Busch Series entry in 2005 for Fitz/Bradshaw Racing. I have to admit that I did a stutter step when I got that news. Marlin has made a few runs in the Busch Series over the years, but nothing permanent. It was a big surprise to a lot of race fans.

Marlin, age 47 out of Franklin, Tennessee, has over 20 years of experience in Cup Series racing. He has 640 Cup Series starts and had made over $30 million dollars in his Cup racing career. The well seasoned veteran will be a great asset to the new Fitz/Bradshaw Racing team, and will no doubt provide the needed instruction for its crew members to move up to the Cup Series in future seasons. It's great to see teams making use of the experience of our veterans instead of putting them out to pasture.

Some of you may remember the Cottman Transmission company which sponsored Jeff Burton for a few years. Burton made a few radio commercials with them and also one or two TV commercials that I can remember. Cottman will be the primary sponsor on the #40 for eight named events and will serve as associate sponsor for the rest of the events in the season. Terry Bradshaw, team co-owner and four time Superbowl winning quarterback with the Pittsburg Steelers, will be a part of the advertising package with Cottman. It remains to be seen what company will take up the primary sponsorship of the #40 entry for the remaining 26 Busch Series events in 2005, although Fitz/Bradshaw has a myriad of sponsors to choose from on their other two Busch series entries.

New Busch Series Rules for the 2005 season are designed to save teams money. That's the old cliché that we've heard from NASCAR time and time again, season after season. Actually, the rules are designed to create a better environment for NASCAR, not the teams. We found this out with the powers that be decided to send the teams down to Mexico City to race. The sanctioning body is more concerned about making money for itself than it is saving any money or creating a fair racing standard for the teams.

The Mexico City deal is beginning to make more sense as news of the new track in the New York City area comes to bear. The France family, owners of International Speedway Corp., closed the Nazareth, Pennsylvania venue and moved the events there up to their road course at Watkins Glen. In order to have a road course event on the circuit, they had to have two so the teams could afford to build cars for the events. As a result, they sanctioned a race down in Mexico to go along with the Watkins Glen event. All of this just so they could close the Nazareth facility to build the new track in the heavily populated New York City area so they could get a full house at every race. Anything to make money for the France family, no matter what the teams have to spend to do it!

The Busch Series is impounding cars at every event after qualifying, which will force the teams to qualify with race set-ups; much like the Cup Series teams will have to do. The difference is, not all of the venues on the Cup circuit have signed onto the new rule (so far), whereas, in the Busch Series, the venues won't have any say in the matter. They have also set up different rules for tire usage, now setting the limit for the entire weekend, instead of the prior rule of three sets of tires under caution during each event. The word I get is four sets per weekend, and it remains to be seen if this new tire rule has any effect on whether the tires are changed under caution or under green flag pit stops.