P.J. Jones To Drive No. 00 At Infineon
Michael Waltrip Racing announces that PJ Jones will qualify and race the No. 00 BURGER KING® Toyota Camry for David Reutimann during the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series event weekend at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California.

“It’s difficult for any driver to step out of their car and I feel like I need to make David proud,” Jones said. “I want to thank Michael Waltrip Racing and Burger King Corporation for the opportunity to race the BURGER KING® Toyota Camry. I contacted Ty (Norris) while I was preparing for the Indy 500 and told him that I hadn’t committed to anything and that I was available if they needed me. I had a couple other opportunities, but I felt like this one with Michael Waltrip Racing and Toyota was a great one and I hope to bring home a solid finish.”

While Jones is in Sonoma (Calif.) with the BURGER KING® Toyota Camry team, Reutimann will be at the Milwaukee Mile preparing to race the No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry in the NASCAR Busch Series event to maintain his top-five (fourth-place) points position.

“We had hoped to be in the top-35 by Sonoma, but we haven’t been able to do that,” Reutimann said. “We felt like having a driver with a lot of road course experience would give us a solid chance to get into the race. It’s a smart thing to do. Both the BURGER KING® Corporation and Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry teams will benefit. It wouldn’t have been an issue if I would have had more road course experience. I’ll be back in the car at New Hampshire (International Speedway) and wish PJ good luck at Sonoma ."

Jones is set to showcase his road course abilities at Infineon Raceway and work with crew chief Frank Kerr, who he has known for years.

“Frankie comes from Midgets and Sprint Cars, so I’ve known him for a long time,” Jones said. “We were also able to work together over at Robby Gordon’s. He’s a racer and having a racer as a crew chief is awesome because he understands what we need as a driver. We tested together recently at VIR (Virginia International Raceway) and had a very productive test. He gave me the No. 00 Burger King® Toyota Camry with everything I wanted and that’s hard to find when you do a one off deal with a team.”

Reutimann will race this weekend in the No. 00 BURGER KING® Toyota Camry at Michigan International Speedway. After being absent from the race at Infineon Raceway, he will return to his NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series duties for the Lenox Industrial Tool 300 on July 1st at New Hampshire International Speedway.

No. 8 Open To Negotiation
Now that Dale Earnhardt Jr. has sealed his future for the next five years with Hendrick Motorsports beginning next season, there are other issues on the table. For instance, will he be able to take the No. 8 with him from Dale Earnnhardt Inc.? Earnhardt and the No. 8 have been linked since he entered the Nextel Cup series in 1999. It is an issue that he threw out during his news conference last Wednesday when he announced his future employment. Earnhardt said Friday after qualifying at Michigan International Speedway that there has not yet been any communication with DEI about obtaining the No. 8.

"Obviously, we'll see if there's any interest from [team owner] Teresa [Earnhardt] and [DEI president of global operations] Max [Siegel] to do that, but they've probably got to answer a couple more questions of their own to be able to have a good idea how they feel about that," Earnhardt said. "Whether they feel like they have any interest in talking about it, I'm sure that's something Rick [Hendrick] and my sister [Kelley Earnhardt Elledge] would be interested in doing."

Siegel said Friday that he would be willing to discuss a transfer of the number. "We're open to talk about anything," Siegel said. "But in order to consider it, there has to be some formal proposal. No one has contacted me. Other than knowing his desire to have the number, no one has approached me with a formal proposal. I'm not going to talk about it until I get one."

Clearly, Earnhardt understands part of his marketing has been linked to that specific car number. "Regardless if we do or we don't, it would be great to keep the eight," he said. "I'm sure my fans would appreciate that. You kind of have to keep the mindset that you might have to change numbers, so you start looking at other numbers and other things that might be interesting to you. There are a lot of numbers out there that I could use or would use or would like to use. It would be kind of cool.

"[There's] not just one. You've got to look at everything. I'd like to design the cars myself and get into how the cars look themselves, so I'd like to be a big part of not only the decision of what number we are but how the number itself and how the car itself looks with regards to how the sponsor feels about that. They might not like my ideas, so we'll have to see."(espn.go.com)

Johnny Sauter Engaged To Be Married
Nextel Cup driver Johnny Sauter asked his girlfriend of two years to marry him Thursday, and Cortney Owen accepted. The couple has yet to set a wedding date. Sauter and Owen began dating in 2005 when Sauter drove for Phoenix Racing and Owen worked as the team's sponsor's public relations representative. Owen currently works as Paul Menard's PR rep in the Nextel Cup Series.(scenedaily.com)

Canadian Deal For MRN
Motor Racing Network (MRN) Radio today announced it has partnered with McColman Media and Canadian Radio Syndications to provide NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race coverage and programming in Canada.

Through the partnership, McColman Media assumes sole distribution rights throughout Canada and will handle all network advertising. Affiliate relations efforts will be lead by Canadian Radio Syndications as an agent of McColman.

“There is a strong and growing NASCAR fan base in Canada, as one in four adults is a NASCAR fan,” said MRN Radio president David Hyatt. “We are excited to be able to offer another option for these fans follow the sport. In addition, with the inaugural Busch Series race in Montreal in August and the continued growth of NASCAR Canada, we expect the sport’s popularity in Canada will continue to flourish. We look forward to working with McColman Media and our future affiliate base.”

“This is a great opportunity for the growing legion of NASCAR fans in Canada to keep track of their favorite drivers on radio wherever they are,” said Garry McColman, president of McColman Media. “It’s also an opportunity for advertisers in Canada to reach NASCAR fans without having to funnel their dollars through the U.S. or confine themselves to television and print advertising.”

MRN Radio, which has been broadcasting NASCAR events since 1970, is the primary source for NASCAR stock car racing and related radio programming. Their award-winning play-by-play coverage of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, NASCAR Busch Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is delivered via satellite to over 700 radio stations nationwide plus the American Forces Radio Network. This makes MRN Radio the largest independent sport radio network in America. For more information on MRN Radio, visit (www.mrnradio.com).

Walk The Track At Infineon
Infineon Raceway will open its world-famous road course to the public following Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup event with the raceway’s 2nd annual Track Walk. Race fans will not only get to walk on the same 10-turn, 1.99-mile road course used by star NASCAR drivers like Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson, they will also embark on a treasure hunt for great prizes.

Race fans will be allowed to roam around the road course beginning approximately 30 minutes after the checkered flag falls on the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup event. To make it even more fun, the raceway will hide five golden lug nuts around the road course, each of which is redeemable for valuable prizes, including:

• $4,100 Snap-on Tools starter toolset (200 pieces).
• Samsung DLP HD TV.
• $500 shopping sprees at Save Mart Supermarkets, Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse; and Big O Tires.
• VIP packs for upcoming events at Infineon Raceway.

Fans can access the race surface from four points of entry: the north end of the main grandstand; beneath the Turn 1 bridge; Turn 7 runoff area; and from the Turn 10 island. In addition to a unique opportunity to win prizes, this is also a great way for fans to avoid any post-race traffic.

The raceway will also accept donations from race fans for the Track Walk, with all proceeds benefiting qualified youth groups in Sonoma County through Speedway Children’s Charities. A Speedway Children’s Charity collection bin will be set-up at each point of entry. For more information on the track walk, please call 800-870-RACE.

Kvapil Wins Michigan 200
Mark Martin had the truck to beat early, and most of the drivers acknowedged it, but Martin's engine blew up and his day was done. Travis Kvapil inherited the lead when Matin dropped out, then battled drivers like Kyle Busch, Ted Musgrave, Mike Skinner and Brendan Gaughan throughout the Michigan 200 Craftsman Truck race at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday but only took the lead for the final time -- on the last lap. Kyle Busch was leading Kvapil with 16 laps to go. Kvapil tried his best to pass Busch, who was driving a very loose race car, but with one to go Kvapil made the pass stick and then drove off from Busch.

"I was all over the place, the middle the bottom the top," said Busch. "I just could never find a place that would let me get a good run off the corner. I was just too loose. Our truck was good enough, solid enough to win the race, but just not quite good enough to get where I needed to be off the corner. Too loose to control it. These guys on this team work so hard on these trucks and do such a great job, I wanted to win the race for them."

It was Kvapil's sixth career victory in 106 races, his first at this track since September 2004 and Kvapil is the seventh different winner in ten races this season. It is the 45th Truck Series win for owner Jack Roush. Kvapil was confident that he could pass Busch at will but said."I knew I had enough (motor) but I didn't want to go too soon." -- With a strong run Gaughan finished third, Skinner fourth and Musgrave was fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Rick Crawford, Todd Bodine, Kevin Harvick, Johnny Benson and Ron Hornaday Jr.