No more DiscoverCard? UPDATE Bodine with new team? hearing that DiscoverCard will not be back as the #26 Haas-Carter Motorsports sponsor in 2003.(10-30-2002) UPDATE: Todd Bodine may join a Winston Cup start-up team for next season. Bodine has been scrambling to put his 2003 season together after learning three weeks ago his Winston Cup team’s [Haas Carter Motorsports #26] sponsor, DiscoverCard, will not be back next season. Bodine said a new, well-funded Winston Cup team approached him to be its driver for 2003. He wouldn’t say who the owners are behind the team. “There is a good possibility I’ll be driving for them,” Bodine said Wednesday from his home in North Carolina. “We’re in negotiations; we could agree on a contract by this weekend.” Bodine had hoped to continue to drive the #26 Ford for Haas Carter Motorsports in 2003. That changed when Discover Card agreed not to exercise its option. Bodine said Discover hasn’t made a formal announcement, but he said Discover has told the team it won’t be back as a sponsor. Bodine said that Discover’s decision, made before the UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway earlier this month, was based on advertising budget cuts. Travis Carter is pursuing new sponsors and other racing options, but Bodine said the team’s Winston Cup future is uncertain. “I really wanted to stay with Haas Carter,” Bodine said. “This new team is a real deal and not a fly-by-night operation. It’s unfortunate for me because I’ll be starting all over again. It’s tough to establish any consistency when you’re new.” Bodine rejoined the Herzog Jackson Motorsports #92 BGN team on Tuesday and immediately began a two-day test session at Homestead, FL. Bodine left that team following the event at Kansas Speedway on Sept. 28 to concentrate on his Winston Cup effort with Haas Carter, thinking Discover Card would be back. In renewing his ties with Herzog Jackson Motorsports this week, Bodine is keeping his options open with that team for 2003. He’ll compete in the #92 Excedrin QuickTabs Chevy for the remaining three races of the 2002 Busch Series season, beginning this weekend with the Sam’s Club 200 at Rockingham. “There are really not a whole lot of options out there,” said Bodine, who said that Herzog Jackson is still trying to sign a sponsor for next year. Excedrin, the team’s current sponsor, announced earlier this season that it will not return in 2003. Herzog Jackson was also keen on entering Winston Cup and wanted Bodine to be a part of it. The team had planned to put Bodine in a few Winston Cup races this year before he returned to Haas Carter full time in June. Bodine said if he signs with the new Winston Cup team, he probably won’t continue in the BGN next year.(Star Gazette), no word on which ‘New’ team it is(10-31-2002)
