FitzBradshaw sets Winston Cup debut

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- FitzBradshaw Racing plans to make its first NASCAR Winston Cup Series start in the EA Sports 500 on Oct. 6 at Talladega Superspeedway, fielding a No. 83 RacingUSA.com Chevrolet for its full-time Busch Series driver, Kerry Earnhardt.

"This is another piece of the puzzle," team co-owner Armando Fitz said. "We have wanted to progress from running the full Busch Series schedule into Winston Cup with Kerry. It's just happening sooner than we thought and we are thrilled."

If it happens, it will be Earnhardt's second Winston Cup outing. He made an abortive debut in 2000, driving a Chevrolet from Dave Marcis' shops in conjunction with his late father, Dale Earnhardt and his half-brother Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Michigan International Speedway.

Kerry Earnhardt easily qualified but crashed out of the race in less than 10 laps.

"In my first Winston Cup venture, I did learn that patience is a virtue," he said. "I learned it the hard way. I only ran five-and-a-half laps there, where if I'd been patient I could have let everybody go until the first caution and we could have worked on the car to make it drive better.

"I've learned that and I've done that quite a bit this year. If the weather changes or the car is not right, we wait and drop back and work on it, and we've been able to get a couple top-10 finishes because of it."

After making a rough initial foray in the Busch Series in the late 1990s, Earnhardt turned his attention to the ARCA RE/MAX Series, with support from his father's Dale Earnhardt, Inc. operation. He won four times in ARCA superspeedway events.

"I've learned a lot," Kerry said. "I had to go back to the ARCA Series and (president) Ron Drager and the guys there give me an opportunity, and having dad on the radio with me -- I learned more in two years than I ever did in racing and that comes from the coaching I had."

His 2002 season has been his best in NASCAR. Through 17 races, he is 18th in points with his first two career top-10 finishes, as well as nine top-20s. Two races ago he scored his career best, a seventh at Kentucky Speedway.

DEI will provide the car and engines to be used at Talladega. If either Kerry or Dale Jr. were able to win there, it would mark the third consecutive victory by an Earnhardt. Dale won his final career race at the end of 2000 and Dale Jr. won an emotional victory last fall.

FitzBradshaw and Kerry Earnhardt started the 2002 season planning to run 20 Busch races backed by Super Cuts. Subsequently, partial sponsorships with Hot Tamales, 10-10-220 and Jani-King have allowed the team to expand its schedule to include all 34 races.

Fitz said all four Busch sponsors would be associates on the Cup car and that they had all already re-signed for 2003. He said FitzBradshaw hoped to run Kerry in seven Winston Cup races next season and, if sponsorship can be secured, the entire 2004 season.

"I wanted to run a Cup race this year just to get our feet wet and just to see what we could do," Fitz said. "Our team has the ability -- they have been together between three and five years -- and Kerry has the ability."

The No. 83 car will carry a paint scheme designed by Sam Bass. The number represents the No. 8 used by Kerry and Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s grandfather, Ralph Earnhardt; and the No. 3 made famous at Richard Childress Racing by their father, who was killed in a crash on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.