The 6 Car
Mark Martin would like to retire from NEXTEL Cup racing at the end of 2005 and go race the Craftsman Truck Series full time in 2006. However, Jamie McMurray is under contract with Chip Ganassi through the 2006 season.
Contracts are often broken in NASCAR but Chip has announced Jamie as the full-time driver for 2006.
If Jamie can make the move next year then everything goes as planned. However, if Jamie is stuck in his contract until 2007 then Mark Martin has agreed to return to Roush Racing for one more season.
The 97 Car
Wow. How often does the defending NEXTEL Cup Champion's ride become available? This is potentially the hottest ride in all of motorsports.
Lately I've heard two names being thrown around as possible replacements for Kurt Busch. Roush Racing truck series regular Todd Kleuver and long time NEXTEL Cup veteran Ricky Rudd. Which way will Jack go? Here is how I think it will shake out.
Jack Roush likes to have an older driver on the roster to share his experience and calming influence with the younger guys. However he doesn't need two old guys.
I think that if Jamie McMurray is not allowed to move over for 2006 and Mark Martin sticks around for one more year then Todd Kleuver will get the #97 when Kurt Busch leaves for the #2.
However, if McMurray is allowed to break his contract and drive the #6 in 2006 then Roush doesn't have an older driver on his team. This paves the way for Ricky Rudd to jump over to the #97 and finish out his career with Championship potential. This leaves Kleuver to move to the Busch series as originally planned to gain additional experience.
Of course, this is all pure speculation on my part. Somewhere at Roush Racing Jack is smiling. Only he knows for sure what his plans are for the future and no amount of prodding from the media has shaken that information loose from him.
We will watch this interesting situation closely to see how it all plays out.
