Larry McReynolds’ plans to expand his two-team Truck program to add a Nextel Cup team are on hold. “Things were in place for six, seven, eight races this year, but it wasn’t solid for next year,” said McReynolds, a Fox broadcaster, Truck team owner and former star crew chief. “I told Alex (Meshkin, the team owner) we don’t need to take our focus away from the Truck championship this year and trying to win races this year, and there is no way you can put together a good Cup program for this year without having everything in place for next year. In all honesty, it’s a little relief to me, because I don’t want to take focus away from the Trucks, and I’m still nervous about Busch and Cup from my standpoint. The Truck deal works, because it’s not a conflict of interests (with his TV jobs). When I walk through this garage, the guys respect me, and respect that when I’m with the Trucks, I’m with the Trucks, but when I’m in with them, I’m a broadcaster. So the Cup deal is not going to happen right now.”(Winston Salem Journal)(7-6-2004)
UPDATE: an hearing that Larry MacReynolds parted way with BANG Racing today.
HOWEVER: there is a brand new article posted by McReynolds at FoxSports, where the teams switched crews again, back to where they were.(7-7-2004)
AND no mention of McReynolds anymore on the BANG Racing Site, also of note, the car# listed on the BANG Racing site for their Nextel Cup team is #28.(7-9-2004)
UPDATE 2: Fox TV commentator and former Nextel Cup crew chief Larry McReynolds said Friday he had resigned from his role with Bang Racing on Tuesday and will concentrate his time on his family and his broadcasting duties with Fox and Speed Channel. “It was a business decision. I was spreading myself awfully thin,” he said. “Not that I felt like I was short-cutting anything. I still feel I was doing as good a job broadcasting as I was when I didn’t have anything else going on. My days were getting longer and longer and longer. I am going to devote a little more time to broadcasting. I’m going to catch my breath a little bit. I hope I never leave Fox or Speed because I enjoy it and I feel I put a lot into it,” McReynolds said. He did not rule out an eventual role again as a consultant or team owner. “I’m not saying that in the near future I won’t go back and do something” he said. “It would have to be probably under some different circumstances, though. I bit off an awful lot.”(ThatsRacin.com)(7-9-2004)
