Friday at Texas Motor Speedway seems to be a busy day as three separate teams are making announcements, in which some of the details are already known to the public.
Kevin Harvick Incorporated and Elliott Sadler
Kevin Harvick Incorporated (KHI) has scheduled a press conference for Friday afternoon to announce their “2011 program”. Both the Charlotte Observer and ThatsRacin.com are reporting that one of the announcements they will be making is that Elliott Sadler will be driving for KHI full-time in the Nationwide Series.
Back in October, Sadler told NASCAR.com that Kevin Harvick would be a good owner to have due to the experience with him.
“You know, when I felt like people might have turned their backs on me and done other stuff and left me in a tough situation, Kevin stepped up to the plate,” Sadler said. “He’s like, ‘Man, I believe in you, you can get this done. I want you to run my equipment.’ It has been a great situation. Kevin has done a lot to revive my career and give me confidence. He’s a great motivator right now.”
Sadler chose to leave Richard Petty Motorsports at season’s end due to the lack of success he was experiencing. Though this past year running some Truck races for Kevin Harvick has offered that to Sadler. Sadler has made six starts for KHI, posting one win, two top-fives and three top-10s.
Charlotte Observer also reports that KHI also will field the No. 33 Chevy again in the Nationwide Series with team co-owner Kevin Harvick driving most of the races, along with Richard Childress Racing drivers Clint Bowyer, Paul Menard, and Austin Dillion.
Turner Motorsports and Justin Allgaier
Turner Motorsports announced that on Friday at 2:30pm CT, they’d be making an announcement that would include their driver and sponsor line-up, as well as manufacture and engine supplier.
ESPN.com has learned that Justin Allgaier will be one of the drivers announced in the line-up as he will drive the full-time in the Nationwide Series.
Allgaier was let go from Penske Racing after Verizon took their name off of the car. Allgaier is currently the highest ranked non-Sprint Cup driver in the Nationwide Series standings, sitting in fourth place with a win at Bristol.
Turner Motorsports will be a fielding a total of six teams with three in the Nationwide Series and three in the Camping World Truck Series. Current drivers Ricky Carmichael and James Buescher will return to drive two of the team’s trucks.
Carmichael currently sits 11 in points with three top fives and eight top 10s in 22 starts while Buescher sits 12 in points with six top fives and nine top 10s in 19 starts.
Joe Gibbs Racing
J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing, is expected to announce Joe Gibbs Racing’s 2011 Nationwide Series program at 10 a.m. on Saturday, following the Nationwide Series driver/crew chief meeting. Expect the plans to include current Sprint Cup drivers Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, and Joey Logano with development drivers Matt DiBenedetto and Brad Coleman.
