Inside Dish: Kodak's on the move with its dollars

[Elwood]

Inside Dish: Kodak's on the move with its dollars

 

By Lee Spencer - SportingNews.com

 

Kodak's departure from the No. 4 Morgan-McClure car appears imminent. Several organizations have bid on the Kodak account, including Dale Earnhardt Inc., BAM Racing and PPI Motorsports. Although DEI has been rumored to be the front-runner, Kodak officials were spotted at Penske Racing last weekend. Garage chatter has Craftsman Trucks driver Brendan Gaughan running a limited 2004 Nextel Cup schedule for Penske with eight-figure sponsor support from Kodak. . . .

 

John Andretti will remain in the No. 1 DEI Chevrolet in 2004. Crew chief Tony Gibson says Andretti's contributions have helped the team tremendously. "He's driven so many different styles of racecars that he's learned a lot about chassis and shocks," Gibson says. "He's very car-smart." . . .

 

Ken Schrader says he plans to return to the No. 49, but there's speculation that he and Johnny Benson are the two finalists for the No. 30 ride at Richard Childress Racing. Benson finished fourth in Sunday's race at Homestead; Schrader failed to qualify. . . .

 

 

Martin Truex Jr. posted an impressive second-place finish in Saturday's Busch race, but team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. says he's in no rush to push him. "We're planning on running no more than 24 races next year," Earnhardt says. Truex, 23, competed in five events for Earnhardt's Chance2 Motorsports in 2003, and his finish at Homestead matched his career best. . . .

 

Busch Series owner Brad Akin would like to have Kasey Kahne drive for him again next year. But Akin is switching the No. 38 from Ford to Dodge in 2004, and Kahne is under contract with Ford. Kahne says that if he were released from that Ford commitment, he would jump to Nextel Cup and drive the No. 9 Evernham Motorsports Dodge. But Bill Elliott might not retire from that No. 9 seat after having a solid late-season run, which included winning at Rockingham and leading 189 laps at Homestead before he cut a tire. . . .

 

If CART champ Paul Tracy's contract allows, Richard Childress says he will test him next season. "I still love racing open-wheel cars, but Richard and I have been talking about it for two years, and there's a lot of interest between us," Tracy says. "He said any time I'm ready to come drive, give him a call, and I told him I'll be calling him soon." He has one year remaining on his CART contract and wants to defend his title. . . .

 

Competitors said that Kyle Busch's No. 60 Hendrick Motorsports car, which was confiscated during Homestead inspection because the "body dimensions did not meet NASCAR specifications," looks remarkably like the Chevrolet that Jeff Gordon has been driving the last few months. The infraction involved the measurement of the "X" template and was similar to the reason Tony Stewart's No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing car was confiscated at Texas. Hendrick Motorsports decided to withdraw Busch's entry, and team competition director Ken Howes says: "This was not an attempt to circumvent the rules."

[naskie18]

It'd be nice to see Benson in an RCR car

 

Here's hopin

[Elwood]

That would be ok, but I'd rather see Schrader in an RCR car. He used to do well when he ran for Hendrick, but he's never been in a good team since.

[General Lee 01]

I'drather see Benson in the #30 than schrader. Schrader's had hischance with a top-rate team.

[mjsmith1223]

After what we saw Johnny do with some top-notch equipment at Homestead (Hendrick provided engineering assistance in prepping that car), many of us JB fans would love to see him get a crack at that RCR ride. We'll see what the future brings...

 

If it's not to be, then maybe we'll get to watch Johnny run away with the late model championship at Berlin Raceway next summer.

 

Mike

Grand Haven, MI

[SilveradoWV]

I would like to see Kenny retire and run dirt late model! He raced at Dixie Speedway while he was in Atlanta for the Bass Pro/MBNA 500 a few weeks ago but went out on lap 13 due to a broken drive shaft and flat left rear. I would imagine he would have some success in late model racing, maybe not against the big boys but Kenny is pretty good.

[Elwood]

I still think Kenny got alot left if he can get a deal with a top rate team. It's similar to Kenny and Mike Wallace, both of them did well when they got chances in the DEI and Penske cars. Schrader was pretty dang good when he ran for Hendrick, and he had some pretty good runs his last year with MB2 before technical problems stopped them.

 

I think Schrader and Benson both are good and either should do well with RCR, I've just always liked Schrader.