NEW SPONSOR AT RCR
The Shell Oil Company and Richard Childress Racing announced that Shell will take the place of GM Goodwrench as primary sponsor of the number twenty-nine Monte Carlo that is driven by Kevin Harvick, in the 2007 season and beyond. But don't worry Goodwrench will stay on as a full-time associate sponsor and in certain races will be the primary sponsor of the car, plus Reese's will be on as primary sponsor in some races. Under the Shell Oil Company you will also see Pennzoil on the car in some races too.

Many people have wondered if this was the remaining part to close the book on the late Dale Earnhardt Sr's legacy and team owner Richard Childress said, "I don't think it is breaking the last link to Dale Earnhardt. That will be around for many, many years to come, way past when I and a lot of us are around. That is just that times change, the sport changes, business changes, there no decisions that have to be made that we have to move forward in life with.” He continued to say, "I think John F. Kennedy said it best that you have to look at change as opportunity, and that is how we all have to look at this. I think the legacy of Dale, the number three car and Goodwrench will live on for many, many years to come. We are looking forward to the future at RCR with Kevin Harvick and Shell Oil Company.”

Kevin Harvick is also excited about the future with Shell coming on board and said, "I think it is a great opportunity for myself to establish something from ground zero and to work with something that although they have had a history in racing, but not on the number twenty-nine car with myself and Richard. I think it is a great opportunity to kind of establish my own identity in the number twenty-nine car and move forward with the Shell brand on the car.”

Shell had been active in the past in the Busch Series with Bobby Labonte and Tony Stewart, so they are no stranger to NASCAR.


REUTIMANN TO DRIVE FOR WALTRIP IN 2007
Michael Waltrip has announced that David Reutimann will be driving the double zero Toyota Camry in 2007, which will be sponsored by Domino's Pizza and Burger King. Team owner Michael Waltrip said, "David's competitive spirit, proven track performance and verve for racing made David over the top choice for the number zero-zero NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Toyota. Dale Jarrett and I both feel strongly that David is the ideal candidate to cap off our driver line-up.

The zero-zero car has a long history in the Reutimann family and the current Reutimann said, "In my wildest dreams I couldn't come up with a scenario that would have put me driving a ‘zero-zero' car. I always thought how cool it would be to drive a car with my family number in the top series in the world, but what are the changes that would happen. It's right here in front of me. My grandfather, my father, my uncle and my cousins have all raced a car with the ‘zero-zero' number. It is our family number and if you're a Reutimann that's the number you race. I can't describe it. It's just such a great feeling. It's surreal and a thrill not only for me, but for my entire family.”

Reutimann has made one official start in the Nextel Series in 200 at Lowe's Motor Speedway where he started twenty-sixth and finished twenty-second in the race. But for the past two years he has raced in the Craftsman Truck Series. He will be doing double duty driving the number ninety-nine car in the Busch Series for Waltrip Racing.

ROUSH ANNOUNCES NEW DRIVER FOR NUMBER SIX
Roush Racing has finally set the record straight on who will be replacing Mark Martin in 2007 and that is David Ragan. Team owner Jack Roush said, "We are very pleased to have David Ragan going into the number six AAA Ford Fusion next season, David is a driver with outstanding talent and as a result of his actions he is the young man I selected to fill the seat. The number six is obviously a special car to me personally and this organization and we are confident in David's ability to step up and get the job done.”

At the moment Ragan has been sharing the driving responsibilities in the number six Ford F-150 in the Craftsman Truck Series with Mark Martin and driving the number fifty Ford F-150 for Roush Racing. Ragan made his first Nextel Cup Series debut at the last race at Dover and finished forty-second because of a crash. He is scheduled to run four more races in the Cup Series this year before driving the number six car next year at Daytona, starting at Martinsville. In 2006 Ragan has claimed one pole position, six top ten finishes in fifteen starts in the truck series. "Obviously I've got big shoes to fill and quite a legacy to follow, but I look forward to the challenge and the next chapter of the number six team,” Ragan said about moving into his next ride.

ROBBY GORDON GOING TO FORD IN2007
Robby Gordon, one of the last driver/owner teams announced that he will be driving a Ford Fusion in 2007 after six years of driving Chevrolet Monte Carlos. In 2000 when Gordon first became a car owner, he drove the Ford Taurus for the first seventeen races before switching to Chevrolet. He has raced Chevrolets for Richard Childress where he collected three wins, Larry McClure and for the past two years for his own team.

Gordon has a long history with Fords when he raced Fords in the SCORE series in family prepared off road cars, then drove Fords for car owner Jack Roush in sports cars. "I had a lot of success with Ford early in my career and I owe a lot to Ford. I think our Nextel Cup program is at the point now where we're ready to take it to the next level,” Gordon said when he made the announcement on Saturday at Lowe's Motor Speedway. He followed by saying, "Ford has pledged it's complete support of helping me realize my dream of winning a NASCAR championship as an owner/driver, I believe my best days as a Nextel Cup driver are still in front of me and I also believe we have laid the ground work for the expansion of our program.”

The new Fords for Gordon's team will utilize the Roush/Yates built motors and his team is already preparing the new cars for next season's competitions.

BUSCH SERIES
WILD NIGHT AT CHARLOTTE – BLANEY WINS
On Friday the thirteenth most know it as a bad luck day whether they're superstitious or not and now add in the Busch Series race where Lowe's Motor Speedway hosted The Dollar General 300. The race had three red flags and a crash with two laps to go taking out the leader giving Dave Blaney the win for his first Busch Series win.

Blaney was able to take the advantage when Casey Mears wrecked leader Carl Edwards when the two were in the heat of battle for the win, which brought the third red flag of the race to win the race. With Carl Edwards unable to finish the race it clinched the 2006 Busch Series Championship for Kevin Harvick who finished ninth after and up and down night, for his second Busch Series Championship. Edwards was the man to catch and it looked like he wasn't going to be caught, but with four laps to go Jason Leffler crashed bringing out a lengthy red flat where NASCAR officials had to review and gave Edwards the lead followed by Casey Mears. Dave Blaney had his own battle with Matt Kenseth in a side-by-side battle. Once Mears and Edwards crashed in turn four giving Blaney the win. Michael Waltrip finished second, Stacy Compton finished third, Kenseth was able to finish fourth and Danny O'Quinn Jr finished fifth.

BUSCH SERIES
TOP TEN FINISHERS
1. Dave Blaney
2. Michael Waltrip
3. Stacy Compton
4. Matt Kenseth
5. Danny O'Quinn Jr
6. Johnny Sauter
7. Clint Bowyer
8. Denny Hamlin
9. Kevin Harvick
10. Ashton Lewis

TOP TEN IN POINTS
1. Kevin Harvick – 4948
2. Carl Edwards – 4173
3. Clint Bowyer – 4101
4. Denny Hamlin – 4050
5. J. J. Yeley – 3893
6. Kyle Busch – 3680
7. Paul Menard – 3672
8. Greg Biffle – 3519
9. Johnny Sauter – 3302
10. Reed Sorenson – 3286


NEXTEL CUP SERIES
KAHNE DOES LOWE'S SWEEP IN 2006
Kasey Kahne did a sweep in 2006 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, in Saturday night's Bank of America 500. Kahne led one hundred thirty-four laps, the race high to get his sixth win this year. But unfortunately it didn't really help him in his bid for the Nextel Cup Championship, he is currently sitting in eighth place in points even after series leader Jeff Burton had a problem on pit road, he still was able to collect a third place finish keeping him in the lead in points with five races to go. Kahne said after the race, "It's just tough when you're racing guys we're racing with. The reason all ten of us are in the top in points in because we've all run well all year long. A couple of guys had some hard luck, or things happened to them and the leader, Jeff Burton, didn't. He ran another great race. If he keeps running great races, you're not going to be able to catch him.”

Jimmie Johnson, who was the favorite to win, finished second and said after the race, "I had a good night, but I only made up ten points, it is just frustrating to just gain ten points.” He currently sits seventh in points after most of the year being the leader. Dale Earnhardt Jr finished fourth was also impressed with how Burton has been doing and said, "We didn't get to gain on the Ice Man, Jeff Burton. They are there every week doing a great job. You have to pull for them a little bit to win the championship. He's not indestructible, but he has an idea of what it takes.” Earnhardt Jr currently sits fifth in points. Former champion Bobby Labonte finished fifth, his best finish this year with his new team driving for Petty Enterprises.

NEXTEL CUP
TOP TEN FINISHERS
1. Kasey Kahne
2. Jimmie Johnson
3. Jeff Burton
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr
5. Bobby Labonte
6. Kyle Busch
7. Tony Raines
8. Carl Edwards
9. Joe Nemechek
10. Brian Vickers


TOP TEN IN POINTS
1. Jeff Burton – 5763
2. Matt Kenseth – 4718
3. Kevin Harvick – 5674
4. Mark Martin -5661
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr – 5657
6. Denny Hamlin* - 5626
7. Jimmie Johnson – 5617
8. Kasey Kahne – 5603
9. Kyle Busch – 5568
10. Jeff Gordon - 5547