#81 Team Prepares for Indy UPDATE 3 Green Released? Mark Green will put the #81 Davis & Weight Motorsports on the track for the first time next Monday as the team tests the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 16th and 17th. The two-day test session will be used to prepare for the August 5th Brickyard 400, which will be the team’s first attempted Winston Cup race. Green competed in ten events in the 2001 BGN season before the team began building cars for next month’s Brickyard 400. Although he has never been in a Winston Cup car, Green is excited about attempting the August race. “I am excited about trying to make the Brickyard next month, but I also understand how tough it is going to be. It is very competitive in any type of racing, but even more so in Winston Cup. I know it will take time to get where we want to be, but it would be a great confidence booster if we could test well next week and collect some good information in the test to help us run well there in three weeks,” said Green. Davis & Weight Motorsports competed in the Busch Series at the start of the season before announcing they would discontinue their BGN operation after the April 21st Talladega event to focus on their Winston Cup program. The team returned to the BGN one last time to compete in the inaugural race at Kentucky Speedway, where the team matched its season-best finish of 16th.(Davis & Weight Motorsports PR)(7-14-2001) UPDATE – will skip Indy: from Mark Green – “I am actually still with Davis & Weight Motorsports and we are going to run four Winston Cup races in the near future,” said Green. “We were looking at going to Indianapolis (Aug. 4), but now we are concentrating on the short track stuff. We will probably enter our first Cup race at either Bristol (Aug. 25) or Richmond (Sept. 8).” Green said he will drive the #81 Ford at those four(?) Cup events, and he and the team are working on getting sponsorship deals(NASCAR.com Buzz)(7-20-2001) UPDATE 2: Davis & Weight Motorsports will scale back operations effective immediately, team owner Jerry Davis announced on Friday. The owners will focus on attaining sponsorship for the team’s Winston Cup efforts. “We have decided to pare down our operations in view of the current economic climate until sponsorship is attained. This does not take away from our plans to move to Winston Cup,” said Davis. “During this period we plan to rebuild our team as talent becomes available that is capable of leading us where we want to be.” Davis will work directly on gaining sponsorship for the team’s Winston Cup program, and will entertain interested parties personally. See my Team Address Page for contact info(Davis & Weight Motorsports PR)(7-21-2001) UPDATE 3: NASCAR.com Buzz is reporting – Davis & Weight Motorsports, which had high hopes of making its Winston Cup debut at the Brickyard 400 until a less than ideal test session this week, has released its entire crew, including driver Mark Green. The team will remain closed until it has a sponsor signed for either its Winston Cup or Busch programs. D&W, which had 10 crew members working Friday when the news came down, one day after the crewmembers were told they would probably attempt a short track race rather than the Brickyard, has one complete Winston Cup Ford Taurus and another car in the final stages of completion. Its full complement of Busch Series Ford equipment has been retained(7-21-2001)
