The Buzz: March 14, 2001

March 15, 2001
12:17 PM EST (1717 GMT)

Turner Sports Interactive

Gordon's chassis

Although rumors to the contrary continue to fly throughout the NASCAR industry, Morgan McClure Motorsports owner Larry McClure said Wednesday morning that no changes have been made to his race team at this time.

Robby Gordon

"There are no updates," he said.

That apparently is not the case, according to an industry source. Although Robby Gordon will be the driver of the No. 4 Chevrolet this weekend, he'll be using his own chassis for the first time this year. The source said that Morgan-McClure's chassis are antiquated and have plagued drivers for years.

Hello? Bueller, anyone?

Two of NASCAR's three national series will more than likely take another hit this weekend.

The starting fields for the NASCAR Busch Series SunCom 200 at Darlington Raceway and the Truck Series OSH 250 at Mesa Marin Raceway are short of their full complement of race vehicles.

As of Wednesday, there were 40 entries for the 43-car field at Darlington and 35 entries for the 36-truck field at Bakersfield. After experiencing healthy but lighter than normal entries at their Daytona season openers, the Busch Series has seen 42, 43 and 40 cars at its next three events. There was exactly a full field of 36 trucks for the season's second truck race, at Homestead.

McLeod 9

Veteran mechanic Clyde McLeod will continue in the crew chief's role this weekend for Cicci-Welliver Racing's No. 34 Chevrolet driven by former Busch Series champion David Green. McLeod, C-W's team manager for a three-car operation, had to make the move when four-time Busch Series champion crew chief Steve Bird and the team decided to part ways after a less than scintillating start to the season. Green is 28th in points after four races.

Alexander departs No. 8

Busch Series driver Blaise Alexander announced he has left Highline Performance Group due to lack of sponsorship and financial backing of the team. Even though he qualified the No. 8 Chevrolet in all four events this year, he decided it would be in the best interest of his racing future to consider other opportunities.

He is currently 24th in the series points standings and is coming off a team-high 12th place finish in Atlanta. This is the first year of operation for the team.

“It was a tough decision to make," Alexander said. "When you spend as much time with your teammates on a day-to-day basis as we do, it is difficult to leave. The team chemistry was getting stronger everyday and it started to show with our most recent performance in Atlanta."

21-sided Pentagon

NASCAR Winston Cup driver Elliott Sadler and team owners Eddie and Len Wood tourned the Pentagon Wednesday. They were personal guests of Gen. Handy, a high-ranking United States Air Force official. The USAF is an associate sponsor of Sadler's No. 21 Ford.