#55-Michael Waltrip said Friday at Talladega Superspeedway that he has personally offered #88-Dale Jarrett a contract to drive a Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota Camry Nextel Cup car in 2007. Toyota and Waltrip are also said to be wooing Jarretts sponsor, UPS, which is in the final year of its contract with Robert Yates Racing. Waltrip said he hopes to have a driver signed for 2007 in short order. We want to get the driver lineup as soon as possible, said Waltrip. We want to hire the best driver we can get, and not be controversial about it. Were going to try and get the biggest, best guy we can. The list was top guys for a while, then the list was top guys and medium guys and now its who do you think we can get? It might be a top guy, it might not be. Its just a matter of what we can work out. Its more important to my sponsors who we get than it is to Toyota. Make no mistake about it, Toyota and its race teams are serious about spending money to hire talent: One team principal, speaking on condition of anonymity, said one of his managers received a $100,000 raise when he jumped ship and moved to a Toyota team recently. (Speed Channel)
AND: Waltrip, who has sponsorship from NAPA for his Cup effort next year, did say he has sponsorship settled for two Nextel Cup teams but won’t announce the other sponsor until he settles on a driver. Waltrip said he had talked with recently retired Ricky Rudd but only about possibly doing what Bill Elliott was eventually signed to do – run a partial schedule this year for MWR as it gets ready for the full-time effort. Larry Carter and Bobby Kennedy are building the Chevys for Bill Elliott to run this season with Burger King sponsorship. He said that should help build the team in getting ready for the Toyota debut next season. He also said he has sponsorship for one of his two Busch Series teams. He said he would like David Reutimann, the driver for Darrell Waltrip Motorsports in the trucks, drive one of those Busch cars. He also said that Reutimann’s teammate, Joey Miller, is a possibility for the other Busch car.(SceneDaily.com)
AND II: Michael Waltrip revealed on Friday that Dale Jarrett and Ricky Rudd have been asked about driving a Toyota next season and he was emphatic about who was doing the wooing. Waltrip, who will field two Camrys in both the Cup and Busch series next season, said his team is handling all negotiations on incoming personnel without any help from the Japanese manufacturer.(USA Today)(4-29-2006)
