The [Back Curb] race shop will field at least two Nationwide Series cars this season and, possibly, as many as four, depending on sponsorships. Brad Coleman will drive the #27 Kleenex Ford. Baker said no driver has been placed in the #37 car, which is still attempting to round out its sponsorships. He said the car would race this season. Baker’s son Brad Baker is one of two drivers along with an unnamed Sprint Cup driver that might drive it this season. Gary Baker said the team would also field a No. 43, so Curb can keep the number.(Tennessean)(1-4-2008)
UPDATE: The team intends to field a second – and possibly a third – car for a partial schedule. Veteran driver Kenny Wallace and Brad Baker, Gary’s son who had an impressive Late Model career, are expected to share wheel time. Those plans remain in development.(Baker-Curb Racing PR)(1-15-2008)
UPDATE 2: [Kenny] Wallace said he began seriously bargaining for his NASCAR driving future near the end of last season, talking most seriously with a couple of Nationwide Series teams, the management of Baker Curb Racing and Fitz Motorsports owner Armando Fitz. Two weeks ago Baker Curb called to ask Wallace if he’d like to test their #37 Ford at Daytona Preseason Thunder and then later this month when the Nationwide Series tests at Las Vegas. But sponsorship is the big holdup to Baker Curb running the #37, which is a locked-in starter for the season-opening Camping World 300 thanks to its top-30 position in the 2007 Busch Series owner standings. “I guess an ideal situation for me, right now would probably be to run for the championship in the [Nationwide] Series and run a limited amount of Cup races,” Wallace said. “I feel real confident that this team is going to put together a sponsorship,” Wallace said. “Gary Baker and Mike Curb have hired all the boys, built a brand-new shop and it would be hard for me to fathom that they’re just going to shut [the 37] completely down. “I could see them running maybe a limited schedule, but they just moved into a state-of-the-art, 75,000-square-foot building and have got new employees.”(NASCAR.com)(1-20-2008)
UPDATE 3: Both of the Baker-Curb cars purchased from Brewco Motorsports finished in the top 35 in owner points in 2007 guaranteeing the new team a spot in the first five races of 2008. That will allow driver Brad Coleman in the #27 Kimberly Clark/Kleenex-sponsored Ford and either Brad Baker or Burney Lamar in the yet to be fully-funded #37 ride to get situated and ready to race.(Florida Today)(1-29-2008)
