Nothing beats a good Bowl of Chili in January for Tony Stewart. Credit: Autostock

Notebook: Musgrave to drive Germain Toyota

Cup champ Stewart to participate in Chili Bowl Midget Nationals

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Being a champion carries privileges, and Ted Musgrave's brief four-day unemployment is proof.

Musgrave, the veteran driver who won the 2005 Craftsman Truck Series championship but was unemployed last Friday when Ultra Motorsports closed its doors, signed a deal Tuesday to drive a Toyota Tundra this season for Germain Racing.

Ted Musgrave hopes to win another trophy for Germain Racing. Credit: Doug Benc/Getty Images

"Actually, we looked at it and it was 72 hours -- a weird 72 hours, to be sure -- but 72 hours from when [Ultra] said they were going to shut it down to getting ready to sign the contract," Musgrave said at Daytona International Speedway during Preseason Thunder testing. "But I'll be driving the 9 truck for the Germains and Todd Bodine will [still] be driving the 30."

The Wisconsin native, who's finished no worse than third in five years racing in the Truck Series, will test the No. 9 Germain Toyota this weekend at Daytona as a teammate to Bodine, a five-time winner last season who swept victories in the schedule's last three races on his way to third in the championship.

"I'm pretty excited to be able to see the front of them, for once," Musgrave said, laughing. "We've been looking at the tail end of them things for quite a while, so I've never sat in one, but I've seen a lot of them so I went after this opportunity.

"I sat at home and looked at the opportunities and the numbers and I made the call. I feel bad for Justin [Hobgood, who was scheduled to drive the Germains' No. 9], but he is going to run some truck races next year, too. He's still going to be developed and run and he's a good kid."

Musgrave said the Germain brothers were in meetings Tuesday with a prospective sponsor and that his deal at this moment was for 2006, but it had a definite prospect to be extended.

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"Todd and them have got their program together," Musgrave said. "The Hillmans have done an excellent job over there, as my crew chief, Gene Nead over at Ultra had done the same thing.

"We're looking at it right now and we're just going to try to get through this [season]. The thing about this is, as late as it was it's really hard to get a great amount of help from sponsors and manufacturers, but it looks pretty good and next year looks even better.

"I guess if we do good this year we'll look on to next year, but I really haven't gotten to that point. I'm just so happy that they accepted and said, 'Yes, this is a cool deal,' -- jump in the truck and drive.

"I'm just taking it one day at a time right now."

Sadler: Chase equals change

Preseason Thunder at Daytona has been rife with new combinations of drivers, crew chiefs and mechanics and, if you believe Robert Yates Racing driver Elliott Sadler, the avalanche is just beginning.

While Sadler and his teammate, Dale Jarrett, are in their same seats; each of them has a new crew chief for 2006: Tommy Baldwin working with Sadler and Slugger Labbe working with Jarrett, the 1999 Cup champion.

"I think you're seeing a lot of changes in NASCAR and I think you're going to continue to see more changes the more years that we go," Sadler said. "A lot of that is due to the Chase [for the Nextel Cup] and the pressure there is to make the top 10.

"When teams feel like they did make the top 10 they just don't want to keep both feet buried in the sand, they want to do something different, whether it's a driver change, crew chief change, engineers -- whatever.

"Every team's looking for the right chemistry to make it work. They'll give it a couple years and if it doesn't work, they're going to do something else.

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"Every sponsor wants to be in the Chase -- every driver, every team owner -- and it just doesn't happen. So you've got to make changes and you've got to take chances and see what happens.

"I don't think you're going to see changes getting less, I think you're going to see them getting more and more and more, and it's making our sport more competitive."

Hamilton Jr. going trucking

Green Light Racing has announced a one-race deal to field a No. 08 Dodge in the Craftsman Truck Series season opener Feb. 17 at Daytona International Speedway for Nextel Cup veteran Bobby Hamilton Jr.

Hamilton Jr. has five NCTS starts and has made the most of his limited time in the series. He has two top-five finishes and has led in three of his Truck Series starts for a total of 135 laps, narrowly missing wins at Darlington and Nashville.

Hamilton Jr., who also has five Busch Series victories, racing in Nextel Cup in 2005 for PPI Motorsports, but parted ways with that team after the season.

Kahne joins Chili Bowl mix

Tony Stewart's ardor for the annual Chili Bowl Midget Nationals in Tulsa, Okla., is well known; but other drivers with NASCAR connections joining Stewart in this weekend's event are Kasey Kahne and 2005 Craftsman Truck Series driver Tracy Hines.

Hines is the event's defending champion and Stewart won in 2002, and all three will be eligible for a $10,000 winner's bonus from Dodge. They also all came from an open-wheel pedigree, and Kahne put the event in perspective Tuesday.

"It's the first race of the year, there's 200 Midgets there, Tony Stewart will be there and it's always fun to try to beat him in a Midget," Kahne said of the event's attraction. "It's indoors and a ton of people are jammed into the Tulsa Expo Center. It's fun.

"A Midget is so fun to drive on dirt, and that little racetrack is wide and there's a lot you can do there. It's a tough race to make, and that makes it fun, too.

"Each time you're on the racetrack you have to make points. That's how you qualify for the final night. If you have a good car, it's a blast. Two years ago we ran really good. Last year we didn't run as good."

Stewart appreciates McLaughlin

For the past two years, former Featherlite Modified champion and Busch Series driver Mike McLaughlin has taken Stewart's place behind the wheel of his No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet to allow Stewart to attend the Chili Bowl.

Tuesday, in a teleconference from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Stewart extended his thanks.

"It's a great luxury for me [to be able to skip Daytona testing]," Stewart said. "Graciously enough, Mike McLaughlin has done that for me the last two years to allow me to go to the Chili Bowl. It's always been important to me to be able to go back and not forget where I came from.

"I mean, to go over and race Midgets and Sprint Cars when I have time is something that's all been very important to me. I think the fact that I think it's always made those guys even respect us more.

"When we get to the Chili Bowl, the fact that we didn't go to Daytona and test and we thought enough about that race to come participate in it [is special]. It would be easy to be the champion of NASCAR this year and say, 'Oh, I'm not going to go do it this year, I'm going to enjoy that.'

"When I go to the Chili Bowl, I'm no different than anybody else there, and I really enjoy that event. So I think it makes them respect the fact that we care enough about that series to go back and do that every year."