Team Rensi Motorsports announced this afternoon that Jeff Green will drive the Team Marines #25 NASCAR Busch Series Ford Taurus for the remainder of the season effective immediately. In making the announcement, Sam Rensi, President and CEO of Team Rensi Motorsports based in Mooresville, NC, made the decision to allow Bobby Hamilton Jr. to devote the remainder of the 2004 season to his Nextel Cup career. The decision will also allow Team Rensi Motorsports to begin preparations for the 2005 NASCAR Busch Series season.(BGNRacing.com)(8-23-2004)
AND Team Rensi on Monday afternoon announced an immediate driver change for its #25 Team Marine’s Busch Series
team, claiming they were releasing driver Bobby Hamilton Jr. to allow him to “devote the remainder of the 2004 season to his Nextel Cup career.” There was just one problem. Hamilton Jr. never asked for such a courtesy. “I don’t understand why. All I got was a call Monday afternoon from Ed Rensi (a co-owner) saying there would be a driver change effective immediately,” Hamilton Jr. said. “He didn’t say why. He made it clear I was not going to Bristol and that was pretty much the end of the conversation.” As of Monday, Hamilton’s crew chief Harold Holly was expected to remain with the team, at least for the foreseeable future. Hamilton Jr. and Holly, are moving to PPI Motorsports next season, where Hamilton Jr. will drive the team’s #32 Tide Chevrolets in the Nextel Cup Series. Hamilton Jr. has also driven James Finch’s #09 Dodges part-time in Cup this season. Hamilton Jr. knew nothing of the team’s statement until it was read to him over the phone by a reporter while he was in the middle of an interview. “That’s just a cheap way to get rid of me. Well, it’s not going to be too cheap. They still owe me money and I’m going to get paid,” Hamilton Jr. said. “They’ll put some driver in there and probably just pay him 50-percent of the race winnings and try to make it look like there was a problem with the driver, but I can tell you there were many problems. If you’re going to be a championship caliber team, it goes deeper than who is behind the wheel; it goes deeper than who does the engines. Nothing against Jeff Green, but a new driver isn’t going to solve the problems this team has.”
“Over the past couple of weeks I’ve had people come up to me and ask if the team was going to make it to the end of the year, asking about financial problems, and I was like, ‘What are you talking about?'” he said. “But all of this is suddenly making more sense. If I wanted to I would just walk away and spend every day up at PPI getting ready for next year, but that’s not who I am. I want to race.”
Hamilton Jr. said he hopes to finish out the 2004 Busch season with another team. As of late Monday he was fielding several calls about possible rides for Friday night’s race at Bristol, Tenn. Additional calls seeking further comment from representatives of Team Rensi went unreturned as of late Monday.(ThatsRacin.com), have heard the U.S. Marines are looking to go elsewhere in 2005.(8-23-2004)
UPDATE: on XM Satelitte NASCAR Radio, #25 Team Owner Sam Rensi said during an interview with Claire B. Lang [wonder what the ‘B’ stands for?] and the sponsorship with the Marine’s is in the 2nd of a 3 year deal and does have a sponsor year-to-year option, but Rensi said that the Marine’s have said nothing about going elsewhere. Rensi also said he plans to run two Busch teams in 2005.(XM Satelitte NASCAR Radio 144)(8-24-2004)
