Kyle Krisiloff has three Busch Series races under his belt, but he only finished one of them. Credit: Brian Cleary/Getty Images

Haas-Carter returns to sport, under guise of ppc

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- A trio of racing legends have joined with a longtime open-wheel backer to field a Busch Series team in 2007, beginning by using equipment and the 2006 owner points of ppc Racing's No. 22 Ford.

The partnership includes Carl A. Haas, co-owner of the Champ Car World Series' Newman/Haas Racing; his former NASCAR partner and former Cup champion crew chief Travis Carter; Mari Hulman George, chairman of the board of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation; and Chicago businessman Michael T. Lanigan, president of The Mi-Jack Companies.

Inside the Numbers Travis Carter Cup Owner Stats Races 493 Wins 0 Top 5s 17 Top 10s 58 Avg. Start 25.3 Avg. Finish 23.9

The team purchased several cars from ppc Racing, which has stepped back from active participation in the 2007 Busch Series, as well as the 14th-place owner points earned in 2006 by Kenny Wallace, which would guarantee the team a starting position in this season's first five races.

Former ppc crew chief Todd Gordon was working with the team's No. 14 Fusion Sunday at Daytona International Speedway, the opening day of the final session of Jackson Hewitt Preseason Thunder.

A team release said the program would receive Ford factory backing and use engines provided by Roush-Yates Racing Engines in its cars driven by Kyle Krisiloff, 20, Hulman George's grandson.

"Kyle has had great success in every form of racing he has competed in," Carter said. "We fully expect him to be one of the outstanding rookies in the 2007 Busch Series."

Krisiloff won the 2001 SCCA Formula Ford national championship and then raced for two years in professional Toyota Atlantics. He signed a driver development contract with Hendrick Motorsports in 2004 and won in his third ARCA RE/MAX Series start that season, at Chicagoland Speedway.

He ran 14 ARCA races in 2005, with two pole positions and did three Busch Series races in Hendrick's No. 5 Chevrolet, with a best finish of 19th at Memphis; then began 2006 in Billy Ballew Motorsports' Craftsman Truck Series Chevrolet.

Krisiloff was released after 12 races, in which he scored a best finish of 16th at Atlanta Motor Speedway, after a financial dispute.

"We are very excited about the opportunity to be back racing in NASCAR in the Busch Series in 2007 with all the great people that we have assembled in our new organization," Haas said. "All of us are looking forward to great success together."

"We are very excited about the opportunity to be back racing in NASCAR in the Busch Series in 2007 with all the great people that we have assembled in our new organization. All of us are looking forward to great success together." - Carl Haas

Haas-Carter Motorsports last fielded a team in the Cup Series in 2002, when sponsorship problems knocked them out after fielding cars for a number of years for drivers including Darrell Waltrip, Jimmy Spencer, Joe Nemechek and Todd Bodine.

The team will operate out of Carter's longtime base in Statesville, N.C., which was Haas-Carter's home earlier this decade.

Carter and Jim McGee, who won multiple championships as a team manager and chief mechanic in Indy cars, including one in 1993 with Nigel Mansell at Newman/Haas Racing, will coordinate the team.

"We have put together a foundation for a very exciting program in the NASCAR Busch Series," Haas said. "I have always had a great amount of respect for Mari Hulman George and all the contributions that the Hulman George family have made to motorsports in the United States.

"It is a privilege to have her as one of our partners in this new venture. Although we are getting a late start, we are committed to running the No. 14 Ford Fusion in the 2007 Busch Series, as we assemble our team and acquire our sponsors."

Lanigan, who has fielded cars for more than 10 years in the IRL, Champ Car World Series and Toyota Atlantic, sees all the experience in the leadership of this team as a huge asset.

"Combining the extensive expertise of Travis Carter and Jim McGee will give us a great advantage as we begin this program."