Wheldon to ditch IRL for NASCAR? No!
"Up until this year, I really did consider NASCAR and the reason I did is I'm a driver," Wheldon said. "I like to be on track and I like the fact they race so much. But with the merging together of both open-wheel series, the series is really fun to drive in right now."
Wheldon is in the final year of his contract with Target Chip Ganassi Racing, and said he has talked with Ganassi about an extension of his original three-year deal. Wheldon said the deal isn't done yet, but he hopes it will be done soon.
"When you have more cars like that, it's definitely fun to drive," Wheldon said. "So I would say with the fact I think they're going to continue to build the schedule and from what I understand they're going to allow more testing during the season . . . that's what I'm looking for. . . . I definitely think I will be in IndyCars for certainly the next three years after this one."
03/04/07 Dan Wheldon is considering a switch to NASCAR in a fourth Chip Ganassi Racing entry, this week's Autosport magazine reports.
"I'm lucky to have an owner that has a NASCAR team and an IndyCar team," he said. "If Chip wants to pull a fourth Cup entry together, then I know the perfect man to put in that car.
"Right now, NASCAR is the biggest stage by far. I've been to a lot of the races, and it's definitely something I'm interested in."
02/01/07 Former IndyCar Series champion Dan Wheldon has been fitted in Charlotte for a NASCAR stock car seat and will test a Busch Series car at some point, but when and where has yet to be determined. A Chip Ganassi Racing spokesperson said Wheldon's primary focus this season is winning a championship and Indy, but at some point Ganassi would have the Englishmen test a Busch Car. "Chip's always been really good if somebody wanted to try something," the CGR spokesperson said. "He's never been shy about getting his drivers diversified." Daytona Beach News Journal
01/30/07 Jeff Gordon had his Nextel Cup crew chief Steve Letarte with him all weekend. Letarte spent most of his time during the race trackside, watching the engineers and crewmen on the SunTrust Pontiac Riley make changes to their third-place finishing racecar. When asked if having Letarte at the track was to help Gordon improve his Nextel Cup road racing game, Gordon replied, "I didn't have my crew chief here for nothing."
Letarte wasn't the only NASCAR crew chief attending the race. Juan Pablo Montoya's Busch Series crew chief Brad Parrott was "persuaded" (his word) by team owner Ganassi to work with the sports car teams during the weekend. During the race, Parrott held the hose that was used to fuel the 02 Lexus Riley driven by Scott Dixon, Dan Wheldon and Memo Rojas. When asked if he (Parrott) was also keeping an eye on his Busch driver (Montoya), he replied, "Nah, he's OK by himself. Chip really wants me to spend time getting to know Wheldon."
Maybe Parrott was having a bit of fun, but Wheldon has admitted strong interest in giving NASCAR a shot. Hmmmmm.