Bill Davis hopes to improve that situation [one car team] by having his second [Cup] entry return to the tour full-time next year. He intends to announce details of the program this week. Garage speculation in recent weeks has targeted Michael Waltrip as the driver [with NAPA as the sponsor]. “Like every one over here, we were looking at ways to get better,” Davis said. “Going to a two-car team will help, with all the advantages that entails from testing and sharing information.” Also of note, when Mike Skinner won a truck race a few weeks ago Davis became just the sixth owner in history to win in all of NASCAR’s top three series, joining Jack Roush, Rick Hendrick, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Richard Childress.(High Point Enterprise)(9-15-2005)
UPDATE: Michael Waltrip said on this weeks Inside Nextel Cup show that he would announce his 2006 plans on Speed Channel’s Trackside show from Dover, which airs this Friday at 7:00pm/et [re-air at 11:00pm/et].(9-21-2005)
UPDATE 2: Michael Waltrip will announce Friday [on Trackside] that he has signed a one-year deal to drive a second car for Davis next season. Davis entered two cars in most races from 2000 to 2003 but cut back last season and now fields only Scott Wimmer’s #22 Dodge. Wimmer hasn’t had a top-10 finish this season and enters Sunday’s race at Dover International Speedway 33rd in points. Waltrip will bring NAPA Auto Partss, his current sponsor at Dale Earnhardt Inc., with him to Davis; Waltrip, 42, announced in July that he would not return to DEI in 2006. Davis’ team fields Dodges in Nextel Cup but doesn’t receive technical or financial support from the automaker. Dodge sued the team in 2003 after it discovered team members were doing development work for Toyota’s Craftsman Truck Series program. Though Waltrip says the lack of factory support has “probably been a disadvantage” for Davis, the possibility of aligning himself with Toyota which hasn’t announced plans to join Nextel Cup but is expected to do so in 2007 was part of the attraction. “I guess it was a consideration on my part to see what might be next,” Waltrip said.(USA Today), have seen the NAPA PR and it doesn’t address the car number Waltrip will drive [#22? #23? #00?] nor if Scott Wimmer will be back in the #22 Caterpillar Dodge in 2006, although Caterpillar is signed with Davis until 2007.(9-23-2005)
