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June 19, 2007
Jeremy Mayfield, #36 Team Won't Race at Infineon
... and I don't think it bodes well for the future of this team. Instead of just replacing Jeremy Mayfield in the #36 with another driver, Bill Davis Racing won't be fielding the #36 at all at Infineon. Instead, CAT will sponsor two entries, the #22 with its usual driver, Dave Blaney, and the #23 with Butch Leitzinger. The main question in my mind is why isn't BDR just replacing Mayfield in the #36 with Leitzinger if they feel the need to use a road course ringer? I'd think they'd want to get owner's points for that team, and that they aren't concerned with owner's points for that car makes me think that they don't have long-term plans for the #36. In addition, that 360OTC won't be sponsoring a car at this race makes me wonder what their situation is with BDR, and whether they've fallen short of their financial obligations to BDR like they did with World of Outlaws? The other thing is that if this was about putting a driver behind the wheel who gave them the best chance of good results, Blaney's qualifying results are slightly better than Mayfield's, but Mayfield has three top tens at Infineon, and Blaney's best finish is 19th in 2005. So performance really isn't a factor here.
BDR's press release indicates that Jeremy and the #36 team will be back on the track next weekend, along with 360OTC. But one has to wonder whether BDR will continue to field this car for the remainder of the season. If they pull the car once, they'll probably have no hesitation pulling it again, particularly if there's issues with the sponsor. In some ways, as much as no driver wants to lose their ride, it might be a blessing in disguise if BDR stopped fielding the #36 team and Jeremy was released. That way he could find a more competitive team to race for. I highly doubt Jeremy's lost anything behind the wheel, but he can only make do with the cars that he's given, just like Michael Waltrip could only do the best he could with the cars BDR gave him last season, which were slow and often had mechanical issues. With a variety of teams thinking about fielding additonal cars next season, it's likely that Jeremy would be able to find himself a much better ride than the #36, with a more reliable sponsor, if he was able to get out of his deal with BDR.
Posted by silverdsl at June 19, 2007 11:26 AM