Wells maintains profile while helping others

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Nextel Cup team owner Cal Wells strolled Daytona's garage Friday dressed totally in black, denoting a low profile.

But he proudly wore a PPI Motorsports cap -- black, of course.

If it seemed odd that Wells would be thusly dressed, since he's the registered owner of Michael Waltrip Racing's No. 00 Toyota, it shouldn't.

After nearly 30 years as the head of Precision Preparation Inc. -- a championship-winning multipurpose motorsports organization -- Wells continues to carry that flag as his primary purpose.

"I'm there every day, and we could flip the switch and go racing next week," Wells said of his shop in Hickory, N.C. "We've still got a lot of rolling stock."

Among the team's recent projects were three editions of Chevrolet's Impala SS Car of Tomorrow, which Wells said were promptly delivered to Furniture Row Racing, which fielded the No. 78 at Daytona for driver Kenny Wallace.

But Wells is still in negotiations with potential sponsors, after a company reneged on a signed contract for a 2007 sponsorship.

"These guys [sponsor] that we had never paid us," Wells said. "So we became a placement service for a while and put a lot of high-quality people over at Michael Waltrip's place, and a few other teams so they could keep working.

"I've got a small staff and we're still in business and we're working on a couple or three opportunities -- one that I'd say is pretty doggone solid, and two that are a little squishy and I'm not sure about. So we'll see if they come together or not.

"Certainly you'll see a lot of me, and I'll be at most of the races. And hopefully we'll get the band back together here, sometime soon."

But in the meantime, with 61 cars entered for the Daytona 500 and only one of his three entries, the No. 44 Toyota of 1999 Cup champion Dale Jarrett a guaranteed starter, Waltrip was in prime position to need a deal.

Owner/driver Waltrip's own No. 55 car was 38th in the 2006 owner standings but the No. 00, slated for its first full season, in the hands of rookie of the year candidate David Reutimann, was only 54th. (Continued)