Although Paul Tracy holds Champ Car records with 30 wins and over 4000 laps led, he will switch gears this weekend when he arrives at California Speedway, where he will return to rookie status in the NASCAR Busch Series. This will be Tracys final 2006 appearance in the NASCAR Busch Series [in the #34 for Frank Cicci Racing] and on Friday Tracy will be making an announcement on SPEEDs Trackside Live as to his NASCAR plans for 2007.(Player Management International PR)(8-30-2006)
UPDATE: Paul Tracy will drive for Riley-D’Hondt Motorsports in the Busch series next season with the possibility of running a handful of Nextel Cup events. “Yes, I will be running six to eight races for them,” said Tracy.(Motorsport.com)(9-1-2006)
UPDATE 2: Paul Tracy is set to drive at least six NASCAR Busch Series races for new Riley-D’Hondt Motorsports team in 2007, with the possibility of a race or two in the Cup series in the new Car of Tomorrow. “We don’t know next year’s schedule yet, but I would imagine we would start at Daytona and run the first part of the season, before Champ Car gets going,” Tracy said. “It’s a Toyota deal and I’m sure it’s going to be better than the car I’ve been driving. Bill Riley is in it with Eddie D’Hondt and he has been in it a long time. I’m sure it will be a good chassis.” NASCAR will begin phasing in the Car of Tomorrow next year, starting with 16 races. Tracy said Riley-D’Hondt will run all the CoT races and “I could get to do some of them, the way things look now.”(FoxSports.com)(9-1-2006)
UPDATE 3: Bill Riley and Eddie DHondt announce that Sport Clips has agreed to be the primary sponsor of one of their new teams in the 2007 NASCAR Busch Series. Fielded out of their new shops located in Mooresville, NC, Riley-DHondt Motorsports will run a yet-to-be-determined limited schedule with champion open-wheel driver Paul Tracy in the drivers seat.(Riley-DHondt PR)(9-1-2006)
