Petree selling equipment to aid Busch team

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- - Along with winning races as a car owner and championships as a crew chief, current NASCAR team owner Andy Petree admitted to a minor flaw Wednesday at Daytona International Speedway.

	Andy Petree

He's a pack rat.

But over the next five days, if needed, Petree is going to finally empty some space in his shop complex outside Asheville, N.C., via a comprehensive auction to clear out a huge inventory of Nextel Cup racing equipment.

"We've never had a sale in the eight years I've owned the team," Petree said. "And we've got tons of stuff, just everywhere, so we're getting rid of all of the Winston Cup stuff."

Petree, who will race the full Busch Series schedule for the first time this season, using No. 33 Menards Chevrolets for promising driver Paul Menard, is selling at auction some 20 cars in various states of assembly.

He also has about 20 engines -- from fresh to broken -- and countless spare parts and equipments.

	Paul Menard

"We're selling all of our Winston Cup stuff because we've kind of changed the way we're doing our deal, this year," Petree said. "We're running all Busch cars, which we didn't have that many of, so we're having to build all new cars and all new engines.

"There really wasn't any sense in keeping all that Winston Cup stuff around. We had enough stuff lying around to do two Winston Cup teams and a Busch team -- and now we're just a full-time Busch team.

"It didn't make much sense to have, I think 185 gear sets in the shop; when 60 will do you plenty (so) we're just getting rid of a lot of stuff we don't need that's taking up space and resources."

After he won a couple Winston Cup championships as a crew chief with Dale Earnhardt at Richard Childress Racing, Petree established his own team.

He accumulated the equipment in the course of assembling a two-car operation that won a pair of Winston Cup races in 2001, with Bobby Hamilton and Joe Nemechek, before sponsor troubles caused him to cut back to a single car, and then a part-time schedule.

	Petree's Winston Cup operation won two races in 2001. Credit: Autostock

Petree hooked up in 2003 with Menard, 23, a successful graduate of NASCAR's Touring Division, and ran a combination schedule of Winston Cup, Busch and Craftsman Truck Series races.

They also won Menard's first ARCA victory, last fall at Talladega Superspeedway.

He's looking at a bright future, but he admitted that after a good start to team ownership, he'd run into the other side of the business, prior to 2003.

"I guess there has been a lot of frustration over the last few years, anyway," Petree said. "The first few years were very encouraging. We were building on something that basically started with very little, and got to the point where we were winning, with two teams, in 2001.

"We thought we had things on the right track but then we hit a bump in the road with the economy and weren't able to keep our sponsorships on the Winston Cup cars, so we just shifted our focus and went down a different road with a young driver, Paul Menard.

"Now we're back in the Busch Series full time. It's a change of pace for me and I'm enjoying it more, because when you're frustrated like we were -- at least the last year in Winston Cup (2002) it really beats you down and it's not much fun."

Menard has seen the brighter side of working with Petree's new look team and has definitely enjoyed the experience.

"We've got a great group of guys that are dedicated to one goal this year in the Busch Series: Winning rookie of the year, maybe a couple races and possibly even the championship," Menard said. "Last year was pretty tough, bouncing from series to series and this year we've got a lot better focus on our main goal."

Menard responded with the seventh best time in the second test session, which is 21st overall.

"I think I've managed to come in with Andy and really hit it off well," Menard said. "This is a great group of guys who are all friends, they work together well and they have been in the shop 14-hours-a-day lately, getting ready to go to Daytona.

"You need that to be a successful team and Andy and I have really gotten to know each other well over the last year, we communicate well together and we work well together so that's all key elements in the big picture."