With only nine races remaining in the 2006 Nextel Cup season, there
are still several question marks surrounding the players who will be
involved in the 2007 season. Even Michael Waltrip has been fairly
quiet regarding who will receive the call to drive the #00 Burger
King/Domino's Toyota Camry for Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) in 2007.
David Reutimann has admitted to talking to both sponsors, but no
decision (at least not publicly) has been made yet. No other names
have been mentioned though in the last several weeks, so if the
sponsors don't agree on Reutimann, it will be interesting to see who
receives the last minute call.

There is also the question of who will drive the second Red
Bull/Toyota entry next season as well. Everyone from Ward Burton to
Ricky Rudd to Bill Elliott has been mentioned as a possible pilot, but
open-wheeler A.J. Allmendinger is the latest name to pop up in the
rumor mill. Allmendinger finished an impressive 13th in his first
Craftsman Truck Series race at New Hampshire, and also has a
pre-existing association with Red Bull, so it certainly wouldn't be a
move that is completely out of left field, but unless he is looking to
make more money, I don't see why Allmendinger would leave a successful
career in open wheel to do 500 miles the hard way in Cup as a rookie.

Maybe we should approach this from the driver standpoint, rather than
by teams, no? Let's give it go….

What in the name of well paid drivers for hire and pork rind peddlers
is up with Bill Elliott?? Is the dude going to un-retire? Awesome Bill
from Dawsonville has made no secret of the fact that several teams
have approached him. He's already been doing some driving and testing
for Toyota/Red Bull and Michael Waltrip Racing. He has also driven for
Ray Evernham (again) and Ginn (the artist formerly known as MB2) this
season as well, and will be qualifying the #37 Dodge for R&J Racing
later this season at Kansas. Are you still mulling over the offers,
Bill? What's the hold up? Money? Time? Family? Manufacturer? I get
this feeling that Bill could be holding up the rest of silly season
with his indecision, but what do I know?

I don't see Ricky Rudd coming back full time in 2007. Rudd retired
just the way we would have expected him to….quietly and without any
fanfare. Coming out of retirement to race full time again just doesn't
seem like his style. I can't see him coming back to Yates to drive the
#88 after being pelted with plastic bottles and run out like he was a
leper. I guess it's possible that he could drive a fourth Childress
car part-time or full-time since he has a past relationship with
Childress, but I don't see anything beyond that. He's testing a Toyota
COT at Talladega in October, but I don't think it's unusual for a
driver to remain interested in the sport to the point of wanting to
get behind the wheel every now and then to stay up to speed (no pun
intended) on the latest technology and developments.

I think we can finally take Mark Martin out of the running for
anything outside of a truck and some part-time work in the Boris
Said/Frank Stoddard Ford team that is `managed' by Jack Roush. Roush
has finally presented Martin with the contract, and in it there is a
stipulation that Martin cannot drive full time in the Cup Series while
he is driving full time in the Truck Series for Roush. He obviously
wouldn't be able to go over to drive for another manufacturer, so that
really only left Robert Yates Racing (RYR) anyway, but they seem to be
leaning more towards a full-time driver. Of course, that depends on
what week you quote them. A couple of weeks ago, they were talking
about being a one-car operation for 2007.

Speaking of that, where is Ward Burton? Several months ago, he began
showing up at some tracks to meet with teams. One of them was the
aforementioned RYR, though it appeared that this was a `bring your own
sponsor and drive our wonderful third entry with no owner's points and
keep Leicht and Gilliland off of the walls' type of offer. Burton
didn't bite, and I don't blame him. If you have a sponsor in your
pocket, you don't need to wait around for a team like RYR to make you
a sub-standard offer….you make your own opportunities. Now that RYR
has come to its senses and made the decision to keep Leicht in the
Busch Series for another season though, the #88 car is up for grabs.
Another benefit of RYR coming to their senses is that they have
managed to work the `youth fixation' out of their system before they
rookie'd their organization into oblivion. They are now looking for a
veteran. What a novel idea! Someone who can offer you experience,
leadership and loyalty? Way to think outside of the box, fellas!

Yates has now made it known that they are again talking to Burton,
only for the #88 this time. I backtracked a while back and spoke out
against him taking an offer from Yates after they appeared to be on
the verge of needing to be committed, and they may still need a couple
of sessions of electroshock before it's all over, but I think they're
starting to see the big picture. That said, I hope Ward is considering
the offer. Something(s) is causing a painful (painful for us, anyway)
delay in Burton's decision. And don't mistake it for him not getting
any offers, because you're underestimating his worth thinking that
way. I find it hard to believe that he hasn't had ANY offers from ANY
other teams, especially Toyota. No, Burton has been burned before, and
he knows he's been out of the game for a couple of years and managed
just fine. If I were a betting man, I would bet that he is putting a
lot of time and thought into this. He walked away from it and has
stayed away by choice. He's not going to chance getting involved with
something that is going to cause him misery. He doesn't need the
money. It's not worth it to him. So what could he be struggling with?
Is it the owner's points rule? True, if he gets behind the wheel of a
Toyota or any other team's car besides Yates, he's going to be relying
on his lap times to get him in. But hey….over a dozen other guys, many
of them reputable and talented drivers, are going to be in the same
boat. If he takes the reigns of the #88 though, qualifying is assured.
But will the race day performance factor be there? There are no
guarantees. You just have to jump in with both feet. Another plus to
signing with Yates now, would be that he is virtually guaranteed a
couple of starts before the season is up, and that could go a long way
in preparing for next season. Burton is obviously good at Daytona, and
RYR is good at Daytona even when they are bad everywhere else, so it
would be a good way for Burton to roar into 2007 and establish himself
as a threat.

Ward, I feel for you, man. This is a tough decision, but you have to
make it soon. Even my draft article about you signing with Toyota lit
up message boards and web sites all over the place, and it wasn't even
legit (or was it?)! Your fans have no fingernails left. I have even
started drinking. Wait….nevermind….I already drank before all this.
But you get my point. It's time to take the leap of faith and sign
something so you can start preparing for 2007, and hopefully shake
things up a little before this season is over as well. On a little
side note, I am currently working on a master's degree that will allow
me to become a therapist. If you'd like to talk about all this, I
would be more than happy to help you sort it all out to make the
decision a little easier. And since I'm a student, I won't even charge
you!