Blaney back with Prism, McDowell too

Dave Blaney will remain driver of the #66 Toyota with the Prism Motorsports team owned by Phil Parsons and Randy Humphrey even though he was a start and park driver in 29 of his 30 races for the team in 2009. The team is adding a second car to be driven by Michael McDowell, Parsons said Friday as he and Humphrey try to find an economic model that will allow Blaney to race this year. "Dave is our guy," Parsons said. "We didn't want to be a start and park last year. But we're trying to build something for the future and that's what we had to do to survive without sponsorship. We want to race this year. We're talking to people about sponsorship but don't have anything yet. We hope to have the money from the outside that will let Dave race. But if we don't, we want to be able to do it ourselves. And having the second car is part of that." Blaney said he talked to some other teams. "I talked to a couple of other small teams like Phil but this turned to be the best," Blaney said. "Phil's trying to get something established and they are heading in the right direction." He said that he inquired about the BAM Racing ride and had not taken a look into an opportunity with Vermont businessman Bill Jenkins, who has purchased Roush Fenway Racing's #26 team. "I talked to the BAM people at Homestead in November but I never heard anything from them, so I don't know what they are doing," Blaney said. "I don't know anything about that new team but I would imagine that will go to one of the drivers associated with Roush." Parsons said that no matter the circumstances, Blaney will race the full distance in the Daytona 500 if he qualifies. "Daytona pays enough purse that you can afford to race," Parsons said. "We've got to concentrate on going down there and racing our way in." High Point Enterprise