NASCAR owner plans switch from Pontiacs

Gibbs' drivers to ride Chevys

Monday, July 15, 2002

By Chris Dolack, Special to the Post-Gazette

JOLIET, Ill. -- Joe Gibbs confirmed yesterday before the Tropicana 400 at Chicagoland Speedway that his NASCAR Winston Cup teams will switch from Pontiac to Chevrolet possibly as soon as next month but certainly for next season.

Gibbs and his teams, with drivers Bobby Labonte and Tony Stewart, will test today at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Depending on the outcome of that test, his teams might switch to Chevrolet Monte Carlos for the Brickyard 400 Aug. 4.

Gibbs' teams helped General Motors develop the new Pontiac Grand Prix, which recently was approved for competition next season. Labonte won the NASCAR Winston Cup title in 2000 in a Grand Prix.

"Obviously, you've got concerns with your drivers, trying to benchmark our cars," Gibbs said. "As a process to try to answer some of that, we built this year's Chevrolet, took it to Dallas and tested it.

"We just kept working on it and saying, 'What's best for us?'"

The move will leave only three teams in the Pontiac stable: MB2 Motorsports' two-car operation with drivers Ken Schrader and Johnny Benson, and A.J. Foyt's car driven by Stacy Compton.

Doug Duchardt, the NASCAR group manager at GM Racing, said negotiations with additional teams for 2003 are ongoing.

"The first thing I need to clear up is that Pontiac will be racing in 2003," he said. "We're quite confident that we'll have a good lineup next year to campaign for the Pontiacs and there is really no question that we're going to be there."

Also yesterday, Michael Waltrip's future in NASCAR Winston Cup became clear when NAPA announced it would continue to sponsor him at Dale Earnhardt Inc., through the 2004 season.

There had been speculation NAPA would leave the series but company president Steve Handschuh said a grassroots effort by fans of Waltrip and NASCAR convinced NAPA to renew its deal with Waltrip and DEI.

"Michael Waltrip is living up to what Dale saw in him, and he's a tremendous asset to the company, both as a driver and as part of the company's personality," saw Teresa Earnhardt, owner of DEI. "We're especially proud of the season Michael is having."