Jeff Purvis will drive for Phoenix Racing and owner James Finch at the Cup races in Daytona and Talladega for the 2001 season. Phoenix held its fifth-annual open house to benefit St. Andrew Bay Center, which has served adults with disabilities for more than 40 years. The fund-raising goal was $30,000. The Phoenix Racing team decided to venture back into Winston Cup with an old friend – Purvis – who competes in the Busch series with Joe Gibbs Racing. Purvis and Finch teamed on dirt tracks all the way to the big tracks for more than a decade before parting ways in 1998. They have, however, discussed joining forces again the past few years, Purvis said. The opportunity came with Bill Elliott’s decision to chunk his Fords and join the new Dodge team. His brother, Ernie, called Finch to gauge his interest in the engines Ernie Elliott had built. Finch purchased the engines, is having some car bodies assembled and will run the four Winston Cup superspeedway races with Fords next year at Talladega and Daytona. Sponsorship for the four Winston Cup races has not been secured(News Herald), no idea if they will use the #51 as they did in the past(12-10-2000)
