Nascar Race Today

NEWTON, N.C. - Suspended NASCAR driver Jeremy Mayfield agreed to a plea deal Monday that will result in no jail time and that he hopes will lead to his eventual reinstatement to racing.

Mayfield faced seven felony charges - one charge of possession of methamphetamine, five charges for possession of stolen goods and one charge of obtaining property under false pretense, all stemming from a Nov. 1, 2011 search of his home. The charges carried more than 20 years in prison.

MORE: Elliott, Earnhardt join forces | Gibbs hires Hornish | Drivers with something to prove

He pleaded guilty Monday in North Carolina Superior Court to three misdemeanors, two for possession of stolen goods and one for possession of drug paraphernalia. He was sentenced to 45 days in jail, which will be suspended as long as he doesn't violate an 18-month probation. He also must pay a total of $88,124.41 in restitution to the victims as well as $1,100 in fines and court costs. The guilty plea he entered is known as an Alford plea, one where the defendant admits there is enough evidence to convict although not necessarily admitting to the acts themselves.

"It's been tough," Mayfield said Monday after an appearance in front of Judge Yvonne Mims Evans in Catawba County. "It's been something that has been held over us and we weren't able to move forward and move on with our lives, and that is something that was very important for us to do - keep going and get it behind us. ... I'm looking to start over with a fresh start."

In April, Mayfield unsuccessfully attempted to have the charges thrown out on the basis that confidential informant John K. Franklin - whose information led to the search warrant - died in a motorcycle accident following a police chase in 2012 and had a lengthy criminal record, according to court testimony last year.

Some of the items found in the Nov. 1, 2011, search of Mayfield's former 400-acre property were from burglaries reported by Red Bull Racing and Fitz Motorsports. Other items were furniture from DEA Ventures as well as items from Lincar Investments and from B.R. Lee Industrial Properties, according to indictments, as well as 1.3 grams of methamphetamines.

Less than a year after the search warrant was executed, Franklin died following a high-speed police chase, according to the hearing testimony. Police found methamphetamines and scales in a compartment in Franklin's motorcycle. A passenger on Franklin's motorcycle also was killed.

Prosecutors indicated the death of Franklin resulted in the plea agreement.

"The convictions ... were based on a number of factors, including conversations with the victims and law enforcement in this case, the unavailability of the state's key witness due to his death and the likely result should these cases have been presented to a jury without the witness," Catawba County District Attorney James C. Gaither Jr. said in a statement.

The 44-year-old Mayfield, who has won five Sprint Cup races in 433 career starts and made the Chase for the Sprint Cup in 2004-05, still needs to apply for reinstatement to NASCAR. He was trying to run his own team before being suspended in 2009 for what NASCAR said was a positive drug test for methamphetamine. Mayfield argued that the test was a false positive for a mixture of allergy medication and the prescription drug Adderall.

He unsuccessfully sued NASCAR to get reinstated and later alleged that NASCAR worked with authorities on the cases that resulted in his criminal charges.

He has since talked about going through NASCAR's recovery program if that could help him become eligible to race again. He said Monday that he would consider going through the recovery program and did not believe his pleading guilty to misdemeanor drug paraphernalia possession would impact his ability to go through the recovery program.

"I'm not sure what we're going to do now," Mayfield said. "We're going to wake up tomorrow morning and figure that out. ... I'm not sure what I want to do yet. In some way (I want to race). I'm not sure what way yet.

"I love racing. That is what I love to do and what I'd like to do, I'm just not sure to what extent or not really even sure that will be in our future."

In the two years since the search, Mayfield's wife filed for bankruptcy and the couple had to move from the property. Their house recently was burned by the new owners.

Mayfield did not comment when asked about where he would get the money to pay the victims. He had to pay $60,000 on Monday afternoon and must pay the remainder Tuesday. The stolen goods found on Mayfield's property had already been returned to their owners.

Mayfield's attorney David Freedman said Mayfield agreed to pay restitution to the victims so they would be taken care of and everyone can move on.

"The only people who've been hurt by this, by Mr. Franklin's actions, are going to be taken care of by Mr. Mayfield," Freedman said.

Mayfield originally faced charges in two other North Carolina counties. The charges in Iredell County had previously been dropped and the charges in Caldwell County were dropped Monday as part of the plea deal.

Before every race, NASCAR drivers and crew members go through a certain amount of conditioning to close up any potential gaps in performance. In a novel turn last season, tracks began to undergo their own form of pre-race conditioning. To carry the analogy one step further, drivers and crew members have personal trainers and fitness coaches in their corner for motivation. Tracks? They have Air Titan.

"You'll see the difference -- there'll be a noticeable difference on the track."

-- Jerry Kaproth, NASCAR's manager of race track infrastructure

The bonus facet of NASCAR's evolutionary track-drying system came to light last season as an additional form of track preparation. The asphalt conditioning process and the next phase of the Air Titan dryer were focal points of the three-day NASCAR Track Services Summit, which wrapped up Tuesday in Concord, N.C. Jerry Kaproth, NASCAR's manager of race track infrastructure, said the feedback from pre-race conditioning in the handful of applications last season has been overwhelmingly positive. He recounted that after the process was complete at Phoenix International Raceway, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Danica Patrick approached NASCAR Sprint Cup Series director John Darby to say they could feel the difference. "They said, 'whatever you did, we could see it right away,' " Kaproth recalled. NASCAR.com rode along with the lead truck of the Air Titan convoy before season-ending events in November at Homestead-Miami Speedway to gain more insight into the track conditioning system. The low-speed ride failed to register on the truck's speedometer, but was nevertheless instrumental in getting the 1.5-mile speedway in peak condition to crown champions in NASCAR's three national divisions. In basic terms, the process uses the Air Titan's normal setup, but a water truck rides in front, wetting the track. The water loosens any debris or residue on the surface, helping the Air Titan's powerful vacuum to clean the track. The resulting combination of dirt, sand, debris and water gradually fills the Air Titan's collection tanks with what Kaproth calls a broth-like mixture. Kaproth said his team sent samples of the mix to the National Center for Asphalt Technology at Auburn University for analysis to get a better handle on the process. "It came back slag aggregate, meaning it does have some asphalt component but it's just junk that sits on top of the road that is loose already," Kaproth said. "We're just cleaning out the pores. Now that we know what it is, we just have a vacuum sweeper pick it up and dump it on the apron." The system is more effective than in previous years, where a jet dryer would simply blow off the track. The new process has helped the track surface take rubber faster, causing an uptick in early practice speeds. "It looks likes where we've done (conditioning), they've been running faster quicker," Kaproth said. "Instead of taking that first practice session to fiddle around, they're coming right at it." At Homestead, Air Titan driver Rob Angle led the conditioning charge on the eve of on-track activity. Though his speed never reached more than 5 mph, his task required continual radio communication with the other vehicles around him -- the water truck and the tractor-trailer carrying the collection tanks. A video camera facing backward helped Angle guide the white Ford pickup, working his way down in 9-foot swipes from the top groove against the outside retaining wall toward the inside of the track, much like a Zamboni would clear an ice rink. The difference was that the truck's windshield wipers were in continual motion to combat the excess spray from the water vacuum, forcing Angle to use visual cues -- asphalt seams or painted lines on the track -- to navigate the circuit. Other visual cues make it clear that the process is working. Before and after pictures of the track reveal a much lighter shade of asphalt after the cleaning. Even more noticeable is the grime that accumulates on the Air Titan truck's white paint. "You can see all the dirt on the vehicle," Angle said. "(At Phoenix) when we went out, the truck was white like this one here. When we came back, it was as black as that track. It was pretty nasty." Not every track will get the conditioning treatment in 2014; Kaproth said each race is considered on a case-by-case basis. But the next evolution of the Air Titan system may make the process much more efficient as the season progresses. Kaproth said a new, self-contained "Air Titan 2.0" could be ready by spring. He also said that his team has worked with innovation partner Sportvision to map out preferred grooves in past races. Using those coordinates, Kaproth's infrastructure team can tailor-condition tracks with the goal of widening the racing line and facilitating side-by-side racing. The technology has come a long way from the days when the only track sweeping was done with brooms. "We have all the parts and pieces," Kaproth said. "You'll see the difference -- there'll be a noticeable difference on the track."

Commentary

Kelley Earnhardt Miller knows the predatory nature of the sponsor business. So the vice president of JR Motorsports knew she would be among many opportunists attempting to exploit for her team the aftermath of NAPA's decision to leave NASCAR following Michael Waltrip Racing's race-manipulation scandal last September at Richmond International Raceway.

There were probably 30 among them, she said. Thirty if her counterparts were doing their jobs.

But JRM had some advantages.

Earnhardt Miller and her brother and team co-owner, Dale Earnhardt Jr., had history with the auto parts retailer from their time together -- including two Waltrip Daytona 500 wins -- at now-defunct Dale Earnhardt Inc. They had the lure of a promising young driver, also with a reverberant and respected last name, in Chase Elliott, whom the team hoped to field for a full-time Nationwide Series program this season. That Elliott is technically signed to a developmental deal with mighty Hendrick Motorsports could not have hurt.

And Elliott is the son of 1988 Sprint Cup champion Bill Elliott, who was voted NASCAR's most popular driver 16 times until being supplanted by Earnhardt Jr. And the Elliotts reside in Georgia, near NAPA's Atlanta headquarters.

Still, NAPA needed a little more. In the wake of the Richmond incident, it needed an assurance, even in a sport borne of outlaws and bred on pushing boundaries, of good citizenship. At least better. As in, don't try to rig the playoffs.

"They were going through a lot of different scenarios themselves as to where they stood within the sport," Earnhardt Miller said on Monday after JRM announced a multiyear deal with NAPA to field a full-time entry with Elliott in the Nationwide Series this season. "So this situation really kind of came together for us in the last 30 days full force, and to really get serious about it, we had to stand up to a lot of different things for NAPA as they have very high standards.

"We had to prove to them that we are going to go out and do what we said we could do and be a great representative for them."

Earnhardt Jr. concurred, saying in the team release: "I recognize -- and I think Chase does, too -- the responsibility that comes with representing a company so significant in the lives of NASCAR fans. We welcome the opportunity and appreciate what NAPA means to this sport."

Ultimately, JRM offers NAPA a place to cleanse itself of the stain of the MWR scandal while remaining in a series it has used as a ubiquitous marketing platform for 19 years. And in doing so in NASCAR's second-tier developmental series, it offered the opportunity at a marked discount over 33 races than its 36-points event Sprint Cup sponsorship, most recently last season with Martin Truex Jr. That was simply a bonus.

"NAPA has invested so much into the sport over the years that it makes sense to continue to be part of it," said Ramsey Poston, president of Tuckahoe Strategies, a strategic communications firm specializing in public relations.

NAPA officials refused interview requests on what they felt was a day of potential mixed reaction, but company president Dan Askey expressed in the release his belief that Elliott "will represent NAPA well both on and off the track."

NAPA's departure from the sport -- one year into a three-year renewal -- had cost NASCAR another rare full-time sponsor and was devastating to MWR, more punitive by far than the stoutest penalty in series history, $300,000 and 50-point penalties to Truex, Clint Bowyer and Brian Vickers.

Truex went from an apparent unwitting beneficiary of a scheme to successfully land him a Chase for the Championship spot to unemployed -- with roughly a third of the company's employees -- as his program was shuttered without sponsorship, before he landed with the one-car Furniture Row Racing this season. MWR's other sponsors remained after initially following NAPA's lead of harshly chastising MWR via social media and press release.

How do you like @chaseelliott's No. 9 @napaknowhow ride? #NAPA9 pic.twitter.com/1ipFhReUq2

NAPA officials, according to sources, did not come bounding back to a sport where its image had been sullied. Its path to JRM was likely made a bit more precarious when Elliott's apparent second victory in the prestigious Snowball Derby late-model race in December was disallowed after his car was found to be carrying illegal tungsten ballast. That infraction wasn't Richmond-caliber, but it existed. With nearly two decades of time, energy and cash already invested in NASCAR, NAPA officials surely understand that their representatives will eventually run afoul of rules again. Doing so is a matter of millimeters at times, and MWR set a high bar for chicanery.

But rejoining the series with a wildly popular owner and a wildly promising 18-year-old driver campaigning a car bearing a No. 9 so associated with his father should offer some assurances and cover. The Earnhardts and the Elliotts speak of legacy and respect and have seen how they can be earned, squandered and nurtured.

Just like precious sponsor dollars. Earnhardt Miller went after both.

"Our role was to try to find sponsorship, and we knew at that point that we had the opportunity to put Chase in a car if we could come up with the right sponsorship scenario in working with Hendrick Motorsports," Earnhardt Miller said. "Of course we sent them a note, a proposal. ... It was an easy note to send from the standpoint of Hendrick Motorsports and JR Motorsports."

And considering all the factors, an easy one for NAPA.

Contributor, espnW.com

WHEN: Jan. 9-14 (Thursday-Tuesday)

WHERE: Daytona International Speedway

WHAT'S ON TAP: Six days of testing for NASCAR's three national touring series - Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Trucks. Sprint Cup drivers will have an autograph session Thursday, and Nationwide drivers will have an autograph session Saturday. Wristbands are required to attend autograph sessions.

TICKETS: Thursday, $25; Friday, $15; Saturday, $10; Sunday, $10. There is no charge for children 12 and under or watching from the Oldfield Grandstands.

MORE INFO: 800-748-7467 or daytonainternationalspeedway.com

----

Thursday

8 a.m.: Free camping begins through Turn 1 or 4 tunnels

8 a.m.: Sprint FanZone opens (event bags distributed to first 500 attendees)

9 a.m.: Sprint Cup practice

9 a.m.: Gatorade Victory Lane photos with Harley J. Earl Daytona 500 trophy

9 a.m.: One Blood January Blood Drive located outside of Turn 4 tunnel

10 a.m.: DIS tours available

10 a.m.: Oldfield Grandstands open (Turn 4, no charge)

10:30 a.m.: Sign-ups for guided garage tours begin in Sprint FanZone for fans (18 years old and older, limited number of tours available)

11 a.m.: Guided garage tours start in Sprint FanZone

Noon: Sprint FanZone Kids Zone opens

1 p.m.: Sprint Cup practice

3 p.m.: Wristband pick-up in Blue Garage adjacent to Sprint FanZone for remaining driver autograph sessions

5 p.m.: Sprint Unlimited announcement on Sprint FanZone Main Stage

5:30 p.m.: Richard Petty Driving Experience on track

5:30 p.m.: Driver autograph sessions inside Sprint FanZone by Sprint Cup garages - Carl Edwards, David Gilliland, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Joey Logano, Danica Patrick, David Ragan

5:30 p.m.: Driver fan forum on the Sprint FanZone Main Stage - Aric Almirola, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

5:30 p.m.: Get Social! Driver chat/SiriusXM NASCAR radio interview on the media stage in the Goodyear Legends area

6 p.m.: Driver fan forum on the Sprint FanZone Main Stage - Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon

6 p.m.: Get Social! Driver chat/SiriusXM NASCAR radio interview on the media stage in the Goodyear Legends area

6:30 p.m.: Driver autograph sessions inside Sprint FanZone by Sprint Cup garages - Aric Almirola, Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

6:30 p.m.: Driver fan forum on the Sprint FanZone Main Stage - Carl Edwards, Joey Logano, Danica Patrick

6:30 p.m.: Get Social! Driver chat/SiriusXM NASCAR radio interview on the media stage in the Goodyear Legends area

7 p.m.: Driver Fan Forum on the Sprint FanZone Main Stage - David Gilliland, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, David Ragan

7 p.m.: Get Social! Driver chat/SiriusXM NASCAR radio interview on the media stage in the Goodyear Legends area

7:30 p.m.: Driver autograph sessions inside Sprint FanZone by NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garages - Austin Dillon, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Michael McDowell, Casey Mears, Paul Menard, Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart

7:30 p.m.: Driver Fan Forum on the Sprint FanZone Main Stage - Michael Waltrip, Marcos Ambrose, Michael Annett, Clint Bowyer, Cole Whitt

7:30 p.m.: Get Social! Driver chat/SiriusXM NASCAR radio interview on the media stage in the Goodyear Legends area

8 p.m.: Driver fan forum on the Sprint FanZone Main Stage - Justin Allgaier, Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Parker Kligerman

8 p.m.: Get Social! Driver chat/SiriusXM NASCAR radio interview on the media stage in the Goodyear Legends area

8:30 p.m.: Driver autograph sessions inside Sprint FanZone by Sprint Cup garages - Michael Waltrip, Justin Allgaier, Marcos Ambrose, Michael Annett, Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Parker Kligerman, Cole Whitt

8:30 p.m.: Driver fan forum on the Sprint FanZone Main Stage - Austin Dillon, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Casey Mears, Ryan Newman

8:30 p.m.: Get Social! Driver chat/SiriusXM NASCAR radio interview on the media stage in the Goodyear Legends area

9 p.m.: Driver fan forum on the Sprint FANZONE Main Stage - Brad Keselowski, Michael McDowell, Paul Menard, Tony Stewart

9 p.m.: Get Social! Driver chat/SiriusXM NASCAR radio interview on the media stage in the Goodyear Legends area

----

9 a.m.: Sprint Cup practice

Noon: Course closed for lunch break

1 p.m.: Sprint Cup practice

----

8 a.m.: Sprint FanZone opens (event bags distributed to first 500 attendees)

8 a.m.: One Blood January Blood Drive located outside of Turn 4 tunnel

9 a.m.: Nationwide practice

9 a.m.: Gatorade Victory Lane photos with Nationwide Series championship trophy

9 a.m.: Nationwide Series garage access though Sprint FanZone (18 years and over only)

10 a.m.: DIS Tours available

10 a.m.: Oldfield Grandstands open (access through DIS Tours building)

11 a.m.: Daytona Rising Tram Tour pickup from Sprint FanZone entrance (limited to 65 guests)

Noon: Nationwide garage access through Sprint FanZone (All ages)

Noon: Sprint FanZone Kids Zone open

1 p.m.: Daytona Rising Tram Tour pickup from Sprint FanZone entrance (limited to 65 guests)

1 p.m.: Nationwide practice

3:30 p.m.: Daytona Rising Tram Tour pickup from Sprint FanZone entrance (limited to 65 guests)

5:30 p.m.: Nationwide autograph session in Goodyear Legends Area. Drivers scheduled to appear: Dakoda Armstrong, Trevor Bayne, James Buescher, Chris Buescher, Jamie Dick, Ty Dillion, Jeffery Earnhardt, Ryan Ellis, Brendan Gaughan, Ryan Reed, Elliot Sadler, Brian Scott, Regan Smith

----

9 a.m.: Nationwide practice

Noon: Course closed for lunch break

1 p.m.: Nationwide practice

----

9 a.m.: Camping World Truck Series practice

Noon: Course closed for lunch break

1 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series practice

----

9 a.m.: Camping World Truck Series practice

Noon: Course closed for lunch break

1 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series practice

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has always been an admirer of Bill Elliott. Now NASCAR's most popular driver will field a NASCAR Nationwide Series entry for the son of the driver long known as "Awesome Bill," using the same car number made famous by the 1988 premier series champion.

JR Motorsports announced Monday that 18-year-old Chase Elliott, already a race winner in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, would compete full-time in the Nationwide Series in 2014 in a No. 9 car backed by NAPA. Greg Ives, who last year guided JRM driver Regan Smith to a pair of victories, will work as crew chief. Elliott is a Hendrick Motorsports developmental driver, and JRM is co-owned by Rick Hendrick.

"I just couldn't be any more excited and any more fortunate," Elliott said. "I feel it's the opportunity of a lifetime, and this is my chance to do what I love to do and make the most of it."

Elliott has shown tremendous potential in a very short time, winning once last season on the ARCA circuit in addition to his victory in the Truck Series. This past September at age 17, Elliott edged Ty Dillon in a controversial finish at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park to become the youngest winner in Truck Series history. That mark was eventually eclipsed by Erik Jones, who is six months younger than Elliott and won the Truck Series event at Phoenix last November.

And yet despite those on-track exploits, Elliott's 2014 plans remained uncertain after his truck's sponsor, Aaron's, announced in August an agreement to back Brian Vickers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Michael Waltrip Racing for this coming season. NAPA, which will back Elliott's Nationwide car, had been a MWR sponsor until leaving the team in the wake of the race manipulation scandal at Richmond last September.

"Chase Elliott is a young and talented future star in the sport," said Dan Askey, president of NAPA, "and will represent NAPA well both on and off the track."

For Elliott, Monday's announcement brought an end to some sleepless nights. "I wasn't real sure where I was going to end up," he said. "Having support and having people to back you and a sponsor is the thing that allows people to have opportunities. For me, at the end of last year, Aaron's announcing what they were going to do, I wasn't real sure about my future. Fortunately, NAPA kind of came along and showed some interest, and we were able to get some things worked out, and thankfully that's where we're at today."

Elliott said he met with NAPA officials along with Hendrick and JRM general manager Kelley Earnhardt Miller. The company will now embark on its 19th season as a sponsor in NASCAR, and Elliott will head to Daytona International Speedway for this week's preseason test session. In the months of uncertainly, Elliott said he was never tempted to explore options outside the Hendrick umbrella.

"It was really never a consideration," he said. "I felt like my best bet to have any kind of future in racing was to be where I was at. When I was at the point of not knowing what I was going to do, I was content to stay patient. I felt like if I just sat tight there, and just did what I needed to do and made the most of the races I did do, if I wasn't doing much next year, if that had been the case, that's all I can do. I feel like I'm at the best place I could possibly be. My personal opinion, I don't feel like I could be aligned with a better group of people. So hopefully this is where I can stay for my career."

Elliott turned 18 this past Nov. 28, making him eligible for competition in the Nationwide Series. His car number, 9, is the one his father Bill used for much of his career at NASCAR's top level, including the 1988 campaign when he won the championship.

"No doubt, the historical element of this is pretty cool," Earnhardt said. "Bill Elliott is certainly one of the greats. I've always looked up to him. He had some great battles with my dad. Certainly, The Winston in 1987 is an all-time favorite. It was probably some of the hardest racing you'll see, and it's fun to watch even today. I think there are a lot of Elliott fans and Earnhardt fans that will take interest in Chase's career and support him 100 percent."

Elliott will be part of a JRM team that will field two full-time Nationwide entries for 2014, joined by Smith and his new crew chief Ryan Pemberton. There will also be two part-time teams, a No. 5 with driver Kevin Harvick and crew chief Ernie Cope, and a No. 88 with Earnhardt. Miller called it "the strongest lineup we've put on the track since we started racing full-time in 2006."

For Elliott, it will bring a transition -- this week's test at Daytona will mark the first time he's ever driven a Nationwide car. And with just nine Truck Series starts to his name, he'll be seeing many national-series tracks for the first time. He does have the luxury of having tested Sprint Cup cars a few times, and said he and Ives have other Nationwide tests planned beyond Daytona before the season begins.

"Going to these new places, there's going to be a learning curve," Elliott said. "Learning these race cars is going to be new. Running a full year and having this opportunity -- it's all new. It's all new to me. It's definitely not going to be easy, nobody said it's going to be. You're racing with the best of the best on a lot of weekends, and it's going to be a tough year, but it's going to be a lot of fun."

Still, Earnhardt is bullish on his new driver. "Chase has been extremely successful, and I think the Nationwide Series is only a short step for him," he said. "With the infrastructure we have at JR Motorsports and our close-working partnership with Hendrick Motorsports, we have every opportunity to continue Chase's development as a driver while contending for a championship. He's that good."

These days, he's also relieved. Elliott said he was working in the family's race shop with his dad a few weeks ago when his mother told them the phone call had just come informing them the Nationwide deal had been sealed. "You really don't know that everything's going to come together until something's signed," he said. "But really, just a few weeks ago, we just found out that everything was a go and everything was going to move forward. I've been anxiously awaiting today, and Daytona as well."

Reutimann ran one Sprint Cup Series season for BK Racing

The team released the following statement Monday: "After completing a full season with BK Racing in 2013, the decision has been mutually made to part ways between driver David Reutimann and BK Racing effective immediately. Due to the current uncertainty of the team's 2014 driver lineup, driver David Reutimann has decided not to pursue a seat with BK Racing for 2014. No official driver lineup for the upcoming season is currently available at this time."

Reutimann, a veteran of seven full-time Cup seasons, has two career victories to his credit -- one at Charlotte in 2009 and one at Chicagoland in 2010 driving for Michael Waltrip Racing. He led just a single lap in 2013 and failed to finish in the top 20 a second time after placing 16 ^th in the season-opening Daytona 500.Ryan Truex will test the No. 93 car for BK Racing at Daytona. The 21-year-old confirmed the news on his Twitter account.

Got a pretty cool opportunity to test @DISupdates in the 93 car for @BKRacing8393 this week. Excited to run with the big boys #NASCAR

The No. 93 was driven by Travis Kvapil last year. MORE:

The primary sponsor for Aric Almirola's No. 43 entry in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has scheduled a Jan. 15 media luncheon in Manhattan to announce a "significant sponsor extension in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series."

According to a media release, the event at the Hudson Theater will feature Smithfield Foods CEO Larry Pope. Smithfield and its products were featured as the primary sponsor for a majority of Almirola's Sprint Cup races in 2013 after beginning its sponsorship in 2012.

RPM primary owner Andrew Murstein -- president of Medallion Financial Group, a company that provides loans to finance the purchase of New York City taxi medallions -- as well as co-owner Petty and Almirola will be in attendance.

Representing NASCAR will be President Mike Helton and Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Steve Phelps.

Be the first to rate:

Click to rate