Evernham Motorsports announced Tuesday it will bring back past NASCAR champion and Evernham driver Bill Elliott to pilot the #19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger at Watkins Glen. Elliott drove for Evernham Motorsports full-time from 2001 to 2004, then part time in 2005. Elliott went to victory lane for Evernham Motorsports four times, including winning the prestigious Brickyard 400 in 2002. Jeremy Mayfield, who has been driving the #19 Dodge this season, will not participate in the Watkins Glen event. No decisions have been made regarding his long-term future with the team. The decision was made after efforts to get the struggling #19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger back on the right track have not progressed as quickly as needed. The team is currently 36th in the NASCAR Nextel Cup owners points standings, which means it does not have a guaranteed spot in Sundays event. Elliott brings a champions provisional, which means the #19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger is confirmed in the starting lineup and does not need to qualify solely on speed. This team has a great deal of potential and we just havent met the expectations this year, said Ray Evernham, president and CEO of Evernham Motorsports. We will do whatever we need to get this car in the show for Watkins Glen. Its important to our sponsors and its important to this team. Having Bill in the drivers seat gives us this guarantee. I believe in our system, our process and our people, and am committed to getting this program where it needs to be. Evernham noted that the team has finalized its long term plans for 2007 and expects to announce those plans in the coming weeks.(Evernham Motorsports/Clear!Blue PR)
UPDATE – No Champ Provisional Allowed: NASCAR’s official entry list Tuesday showed Elliott subbing for Mayfield, and the team later released a statement confirming the switch. It said Mayfield’s long-term future with Evernham is undecided – but his name had been removed from the company letterhead. “This team has a great deal of potential and we just haven’t met the expectations this year,” car owner Ray Evernham said in a statement. “We will do whatever we need to get this car in the show for Watkins Glen. It’s important to our sponsors and it’s important to this team.” That meant putting Elliott in the car because as a former NASCAR champion, he should have been assured a spot in the field. But in a statement released on Wednesday, Evernham Motorsports said, “”Unfortunately the timing was such that NASCAR will not provide us with the provisional.”(FoxSports/Associated Press)(8-9-2006)
UPDATE 2: Because Bill Elliott was not on the entry list as Jeremy Mayfield’s replacement by the July 31 entry deadline, he is unable to use a past champions provisional this weekend at Watkins Glen, NASCAR confirmed Wednesday. Elliott was named the driver of the #19 Evernham Motorsports car on Tuesday.(SceneDaily.com)(8-10-2006)
