Wood Brothers list narrowed to four

CONCORD, N.C. -- Wood Brothers Racing has further narrowed its short list of driving candidates to take over the No. 21 Motorcraft Ford in 2003, team owner Eddie Wood told NASCAR.com Monday morning.

	Elliott Sadler Credit: Autostock

Winston Cup drivers Bobby Hamilton, Mike Wallace, Johnny Benson and Jerry Nadeau are on that list, as well as a handful of unnamed Busch Series drivers.

"This deal changes every day, and who knows, by nightfall tonight this whole list could be drastically changed," Wood said. "As of today, though, we're down to three or four drivers we're looking at.

"Some we've talked to, some we haven't. We haven't met with everybody yet, but it's pretty much down to four."

Rumors surfaced last weekend at Michigan that Hamilton was at the top of Wood's list. He agreed that Hamilton was being strongly considered, but was adamant that he still has to meet with other prospects.

"We've got a No. 1 choice. If we can get that guy quickly, we'll probably go ahead and do it," Wood said. "We're really in no particular hurry to go on and get it done, but we'd certainly like to do it within the next 30 days, maybe even quicker than that."

The 2002 Silly Season began quickly this year, when Wood's current driver, Elliott Sadler, asked for his release so that he might pursue other options for next year. That triggered a rash of rumored driver changes. Wood has been around a long time, and has never seen so many rumored changes this early in the year.

"It's the craziest, the earliest, but when it all shakes out I don't think you'll see as many moves as everyone thought was going to happen," Wood said. "You go down the line and there's 10, 12, 14 guys changing cars.

"Now, some of them are quieting down. Some are running better than they were, working out their problems. You'll see some changes, yes. But I don't think you'll see 10 different guys in different race cars. At least, from what I'm seeing."