Elliott to drive No. 21 Ford for Wood Brothers in 600 (cont'd)

Wood will drive the car in this weekend's Nextel Open. His only start this season came at Las Vegas, where he finished 29th.

"Ken Schrader and Jon Wood are the ultimate team players," said the team's co-owner, Eddie Wood. "They are looking beyond their own interests toward what is best for the company right now."

Elliott has 55 starts at Lowe's Motor Speedway, including two victories -- 1984 and 1987 -- and 22 top-10 finishes.

The marriage between the Wood Brothers and Elliott reunites an old friendship between the two racing families. But what most NASCAR fans will latch on with is that Elliott will be back in a Ford for the first time since he sold his own team to Ray Evernham at the end of the 2000 season and helped Dodge make its entrance into the Cup Series.

Forty of Elliott's 44 career victories came while driving a Ford, including an 11-win campaign in 1985 and his championship in 1988, both while driving for owner Harry Melling.

"We're excited that Bill Elliott is finally coming back home to a Ford racecar," said Dan Davis, director of Ford Racing Technology. "There are still a lot of Ford fans who remember fondly what Bill meant to our program for so many years."

Eddie Wood said it was more than just putting Elliott in one of his family's cars or even getting him back in a Blue Oval.

"We certainly welcome Bill Elliott back to the Ford Racing camp, where he's had so much previous success," Wood said. "Bill, his family and our family have been great and close friends for over 30 years and it's more special to us than we can put into words that he'll be getting behind the wheel of the 21 car."