ppc Racing officials announced today its #14 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series program with driver John Andretti will cut back its full-time operations to a part-time schedule effective immediately. The team made five starts last year with Andretti and the first three races in the 2005 season, including the Daytona 500. Car Owner, Greg Pollex, talked about today’s announcement: “We started our cup program last year with the #14 car with the intent of being competitive and we want to continue that initiative in 2005,” said Pollex. “We did not anticipate the major shift in the qualifying rules which force a non-locked-in team to qualify for a race or to go home, as it happened to us in Atlanta. The combination of the new qualifying rules and the fact that most events are impound races is a combination that does not work when you are forced to use a qualifying setup just to make the field. A qualifying set up will not race competitively. We have decided to turn our efforts to improving down force on our bodies to assist in the qualifying effort. This will also allow our primary cup sponsor to regroup their sponsorship package for the remainder of the year. In the near future we will announce a part-time schedule for this year and return stronger than ever full time in 2006.”
In addition, Pollex noted ppc Racing’s NASCAR Busch and Craftsman Truck Series programs will continue in their championship form in 2005 with no direct affect from today’s announcement.(ppc Racing), the team has withdrawn from Bristol, no schedule of races was mentioned.(3-30-2005)
UPDATE: have heard some of the over-the-wall crew have left the team.(4-1-2005)
