Roush Racing is unlikely to keep Viagra as a primary sponsor in 2006. Credit: Autostock

Smith: Big changes coming to Roush's No. 6

Ranked somewhere near the top of the current season's most intriguing unsolved mysteries is that of Roush Racing's renowned No. 6 Ford Taurus, and exactly whom Jack Roush will choose to replace it's first and only pilot.

Mark Martin.

It was supposed to be Carl Edwards, of course. So much for that.

Marty Smith

So if not Edwards, who? To find out, I dialed up Roush Racing president Geoff Smith, who, from a media perspective, is one of the most open, forthright individuals in the industry. He'll tell you the deal, straight up.

So I asked...

"I'm hoping by the first part of May we'll have a better handle on who's going to drive," Smith explained.

"The only thing we're absolutely certain of is our desire to keep our (No.) 6 program going in full motion in 2006 and beyond. We haven't settled on who we're going to offer as a driver out to the public yet."

Okay, fair enough. So is Ricky Craven is a candidate, as was recently reported?

"Ricky is a candidate," Smith said. "Jack (Roush) feels that Ricky has something in him left to show people, but he's only one candidate at one point in time. We'll have to see how the season unfolds a little bit before we end up designating somebody."

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Makes sense. It's no menial decision. It's one of the most successful programs in NASCAR history, piloted by one of the most beloved drivers of all time. Folks expect greatness from the driver of that machine.

So you'd think Smith and Roush have their pick of the litter, right? I mean, it's 6 car. Guys must be beating down Smith's door for the opportunity to wheel that baby.

Mark Martin

"It's totally open at this point," Smith continued. "We're having some solicitation by drivers, and the contract season hasn't played out yet as to who might be open and who might not be open."

True. And fact is, a significant percentage of decisions made in this sport hinge on sponsorship. The No. 6 car has never been without a big-budget primary sponsor.

But Smith said Wednesday that Pfizer, the sponsor of Martin's Ford since 2001, likely won't return to the hood of the No. 6 in 2006.

"We're not expecting them to return in a capacity as primary sponsor after this year," Smith said. "As of this moment in time, there hasn't been any expression of continuing on in a primary sponsorship, although there have been some discussions about continuing an endorsement arrangement with Mark."

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Not to worry. The No. 6 won't be tooling around the track stark-white like the No. 99 did last year.

According to Smith, several sponsors are standing in line, the rarest of luxuries for Nextel Cup Series teams these days.

Interesting thing is, many of those sponsors are chomping at the bit to align with Edwards.

"We have a big list of sponsor prospects who are very interested in our program, and many of them are aware that, when all is said and done, we may not be able to accommodate everyone who's interested in Carl, and that there's a really good program, in the 6, available," Smith said.

Carl Edwards

"They're on hold until we can identify the driver. So I'm really pleased with the overall level of sponsorship interest in our programs right now."

One would assume so. Smith said Roush has the ultimate say in who replaces Martin, but that Roush will solicit opinions from Martin and the other drivers and crew chiefs in the Roush Racing stable.

Many expect Roush Racing to follow the current trend and go after a fearless, fire-breathing youngster.

Smith says that's not necessarily the case.

"I think that trend will be tempered some, because there's still an awful large group of the driver population that doesn't get driving experience until later on in their teen years," Smith said. "There's benefit for many sponsors for having someone who's got a little maturity.

"Most sponsors would prefer not to have to have their driver mature in public, right in front of everybody. And they'd like to have a little more polish. At the same time, they want them to be performance successful."

Edwards was supposed to be that young hot shoe that took over the 6.

A real six-shooter Mark Martin is the only driver in Cup history to win using the No. 6: Year Wins 1988 0 1989 1 1990 3 1991 1 1992 2 1993 5 1994 2 1995 4 1996 0 1997 4 1998 7 1999 2 2000 1 2001 0 2002 2 2003 0 2004 1

He wasn't "supposed" to go out and inject so much life into the 99 car. He wasn't "supposed" to go out and post five top-10s in 13 starts. He wasn't supposed to give Jimmie Johnson fits in the Southern 500 at Darlington.

He wasn't supposed to make chicken salad out of... Well, you get the idea.

But he did.

A blessing for Roush Racing? Absolutely. But it did mean a contingency plan was in order.

"Last year when Jeff (Burton) left, we had to make a decision, and part of that decision was based upon the crew we had there," Smith said. "We thought the crew was better than the performance they'd all been able to achieve together.

"And later on in the summer, we had some sponsor activity going on so we said, well, let's give Carl a chance and see how we go here for a little while.

"And he got in and did well right away, and some sponsors came on and suddenly, here we are having to look for a driver of the 6 when we really weren't expecting to."

Who that driver is remains to be seen. But stay tuned, we should know within the month.

The opinions listed here are solely those of the writer.