BDR needs sponsorship for Villeneuve

Whether Jacques Villeneuve will attempt to qualify for the Auto Club 500 next week at California Speedway is being evaluated due to the lack of sponsorship of the Bill Davis Racing team.

The former Formula One champion has been working to obtain sponsorship for the No. 27 NASCAR Sprint Cup car. Villeneuve crashed during a 150-mile qualifying race Thursday and failed to make the field for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.

“We’ve got to have a sponsor," Davis said Friday morning at Daytona International Speedway. “We’re going to [sit down] in the next day or two and kind of re-evaluate. They have a lot of companies up there [in Canada] in play. Some are very interested.

“We’ll have to see where we’re at. Obviously, not getting in this deal was a lick, [but] I think everybody was realistic about the odds."

Villeneuve competed in two Sprint Cup races last season and thought he was close to sponsorship before parting ways with business manager Craig Pollock.

That left him looking for sponsorship over the last month.

“It seems to be harder than it should be – we’ll find out," Villeneuve said after the race Thursday about whether he was confident he would find sponsorship. “Potential sponsors won’t be angry with this race because they weren’t there." More at Scenedaily.com