Schrader back with BAM and/or RCR?

Don't expect to see Ken Schrader in a Sprint Cup race anytime soon. But when it happens, he will drive for Beth Ann Morgenthau and perhaps Richard Childress. "The BAM team swears they're coming back," Schrader said. "Childress said I might run a couple of races. I don't give a (care). Whatever happens. I've got a bunch of stuff I want to do. It isn't any problem." In the past two years, Schrader has raced only 18 times in 57 races, including just five of 21 this season, earning $496,309. In those five events, he has driven for BAM, Childress, Chip Ganassi and Haas CNC Racing. His best finish came with BAM at Las Vegas on March 2 when he wound up 21st. He last hit the track in Charlotte on May 25 where he finished 33rd in the Coca-Cola 600 while driving for Childress. Since then, Schrader's name can't be found in the Sprint Cup results, which suits him just fine. "I'm not retiring," he stressed. "There just comes a time when you don't have anything to drive."

After a 37th-place finish at Martinsville on March 30 with Morgenthau, the team announced it was switching to Toyotas from Chevrolets and would miss the next two races at Texas and Phoenix. There was hope the team would be up and running by Talladega on April 27. But a primary sponsorship deal once planned for the majority of the season has been scaled back to a portion of the season. Now it looks like BAM may return in the fall. That means Schrader can do anything he wants. And even though the NASCAR silly season is in full swing, Schrader's name is never mentioned as a possible replacement driver for 2009 because of his advanced age. "It's not going to be. It's not going to be," he said. "That's just the way the sport is. I don't have a problem with that. I was there a long time and it isn't any biggie."

To replace his NASCAR fix, and as has he has done all his life, Schrader does not sit still. He can be found racing a car in the ARCA series and at his first love — racing on a dirt track some place in the United States. He was at his own track, I-55 Raceway in Pevely, last Saturday night, racing his late model in the Tri-Track Challenge, where he finished fifth in the 40-lap feature. He also owns a NASCAR Craftsman Truck team, and he will race that truck at Bristol on Aug. 20. As well, he owns a car that is driven by former Supercross champion Ricky Carmichael in the Camping World East Series. St Louis Post Dispatch