JAYSKI's SILLY SEASON SITE #46 Team Page
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(not posting new unofficial sites anymore: too many have no updates, are old, driver bashing)
#46 Team Past News and Rumors
(NOTE: some older links may not work)
- Wyler Racing Plans 3-5 More Cup Races: The Wylers [brothers Jeff and David] last year thought, in their long-range plan in racing, that the Car of Tomorrow was something that could usher them toward, if not into the Nextel Cup Series. "We wanted to get our feet wet," Furr said. "But the Wylers want to grow into a Cup team and keep the [#60] Truck team, too, so we have talked about it and probably will run anywhere from three to five more of these [Cup] races." Moving forward, Benson just hopes he's part of the equation. "I know I'm a part of this deal and it would be great to be a part of some other stuff," [Johnny] Benson said. "They've got Jack [Sprague] and the Truck team so I hope we both get to drive it. I'd like to run them all, but these are the guys that work with Jack all the time, so I hope he gets the same opportunity. I'm just helping out.(NASCAR.com)(5-6-2007)
- Benson to attempt Richmond with Wyler Racing: Johnny Benson will drive a Wyler Racing Toyota in next weekend's Nextel Cup race at Richmond International Speedway, Benson said this week. Benson, who drives a Bill Davis Racing Toyota in the Craftsman Truck Series, will be entered in the #46 Camry at Richmond. Wyler Racing fields the #60 Tundra for Jack Sprague in the Craftsman Truck Series. Wyler and Benson tested a car of tomorrow at Richmond earlier this month. "It tested pretty good and we were really happy with it," Benson said. "[Crew chief] Tony Furr and the guys did a tremendous job. It was a pleasure to go there, work with the guys and work with that new car." Benson said there is a possibility Wyler Racing could enter more Nextel Cup events later in the year. "Hopefully the race goes well enough that we get to go do more," Benson said. "That is still a question mark. I don't know what their plans are; they'd like to race more Cup events. It is so sponsor-driven now. It costs so much money to field a truck, let alone a Cup car. I think that Dave Wyler and his father are doing everything they can to try to run some races this year. Whether I'll be a part of that, I don't know. I just know that I'm a part of the Richmond deal for sure and hopefully I'll be able to run some more races."(SceneDaily.com)(4-29-2007)
- Wyler Racing testing COT at RIR: Johnny Benson is testing the #46 Wyler Racing Toyota COT [Car of Tomorrow/Today] at Richmond International Raceway, April 3-4th. Wyler Racing fields a Toyota in the Truck Series for Jack Sprague and hopes to expand to a 2-truck operation sometime this season. The plan is to run Benson at the May 5th Nextel Cup race at Richmond if the test goes well and could run some other COT races.(4-3-2007)
UPDATE: "Johnny right now is strictly our test driver," team president David Wyler said Tuesday afternoon. "He drove our COT down at Homestead this past year. [Team manager] Tony [Furr] is real comfortable with the feedback Johnny gave him at Homestead, so that's why we're bringing him here." Wyler Racing currently fields a truck for Jack Sprague. Benson also drives for Toyota in trucks as part of the Bill Davis Racing stable. "There's a lot of guys in the Toyota camp that would be a possibility [as a driver]," Wyler said. "We haven't really focused on that. yet. Until we focus on our debut, then we'll make that determination." That debut date is still to be determined. "We haven't determined when our [debut] is going to be," Wyler said. "This is one of the steps to prepare us. We'll know a lot more come tomorrow evening. Our main focus is running competitive. "We could go out there and run the next COT race, but I'm not going to do that unless we can be competitive. Until we get to that point, we'll continue to test."(SceneDaily.com)(4-4-2007)
- Rudd to run 16 races for Wyler in 2007? UPDATE: Ricky Rudd is on the verge of running a part-time schedule next season. David Wyler, president of Wyler Racing, told me [Dustin Long] Saturday at Talladega that provided the team can find sponsorship -- which he is confident they will -- Rudd will drive in 16 races for the Toyota team. Efforts to reach Rudd on Saturday were unsuccessful. Those 16 races would be events with NASCAR's car of tomorrow, a boxier car that is supposed to provide more driver safety and balance the competition by making the cars similar (think IROC). The car will race at such tracks as Richmond, Martinsville, Dover, Watkins Glen and Infineon -- places Rudd has won often in his career. Rudd is scheduled to drive for the team in a car of tomorrow test Monday at Talladega and also drive the car in a test at Homestead Oct. 16-18. Wyler says Rudd is ready to return based on a few visits to the team’s race shop.(HamptonRoads.com)(10-8-2006)
UPDATE: Ricky Rudd might have had enough time out of a race car that he could get back into it for a partial schedule in 2007. Rudd tested a "car of tomorrow" Monday for Wyler Racing at Talladega Superspeedway. He could run the 16-race COT schedule for the team next season. "David [Wyler] wants to run a lot of the car-of-tomorrow events next year, and I guess Toyota is supporting them pretty good on the engineering side," Rudd said before the test session. "It sounds like something I would be interested in. I've got a lot of things that I'm thinking of and don't really know what I'm going to do next year. He's going to go racing if he can make it happen. "I said, 'Get everything put together and run it by me when you get the financial support to do it, and we'll go from there.'" Until he gets that, the 50-year-old Rudd says he isn't committed to the ride. He said he would like to have things done in the next few weeks. The car of tomorrow intrigues Rudd, as does the possibility of working with veteran crew chief Tony Furr. Rudd said working with the new car, Toyota and limited schedule is what makes the Wyler offer attractive. As far as other offers go, Rudd said he doesn't want to do a full schedule. He said he has not talked with his former employer, Robert Yates Racing, about driving the #88 car next season. "They've called me. I've called them back, and we missed each other," Rudd said. "[It was] about 30 days ago. We actually have never had a conversation. ... It's really confusing. I'm trying to figure out what I want to do really. The longer I've been away from it ..., I'm sort of detoxing a little bit."(SceneDaily.com)(10-10-2006)
- Wyler Racing to test COT at Talladega: Wyler Racing, who curently field a Truck Team for driver Jack Sprgaue, announced that it will take part in NASCAR’s “Car Of Tomorrow” test session at Talladega Superspeedway on October 9th. Behind the wheel of their Toyota Camry will be veteran NASCAR driver Ricky Rudd. “We are very excited about this opportunity,” said team owner Jeff Wyler. “We feel this is the perfect time to expand our organization. We bring tremendous value to the table for potential sponsors especially with Toyota entering into the NEXTEL Cup Series and with the personnel we have assembled.”
“I’m really excited about getting the opportunity to test the Toyota Camry COT for Wyler Racing and Toyota,” said Rudd. “This will be my first time testing the COT so I’m really looking forward to the test and giving as much feedback to the team as possible.” For Wyler Racing, the test is a chance for the young team to assist Toyota and glimpse at what the future could hold. Although testing a NEXTEL Cup car, Wyler Racing is firmly committed to its NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series effort. “While we are excited about the Cup opportunity, the focus remains on the #60 Con-way Freight Toyota and helping Jack Sprague to win his fourth Series championship," stated team president David Wyler.(Wyler Racing PR)(9-14-2006)
