Wise, McDowell preparing for possible Cup shot in '08

One is a two-time U.S. Auto Club champion following in the career footsteps of Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne. The other is an ARCA series runner-up who has competed in everything from stock cars to sports cars to Champ Cars. Together, Josh Wise and Michael McDowell represent the future of Michael Waltrip Racing -- a future that may become reality as soon as the sixth race of next year.

Dale Jarrett's impending retirement from full-time Nextel Cup competition opened the door for teammate David Reutimann to succeed the 1999 series champion in the organization's No. 44 car. That leaves a vacancy in the No. 00 Camry for 2008 that the team hopes to fill with either Wise or McDowell, both Michael Waltrip Racing development drivers who have enjoyed success on smaller circuits, but have little seat time in the cars and trucks employed in NASCAR's national divisions.

Josh Wise

2007 Truck Series stats

Race	Track	Start	Finish
5.	Kansas	15	17
9.	Texas	7	13
11.	Milwaukee	32	29
13.	Kentucky	15	21
15.	Nashville	5	19
17.	Gateway	25	8
19.	Las Vegas	23	6
20.	Talladega	11	23

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That's beginning to change. McDowell, who won four races in his first season in ARCA, recently tested a Nextel Cup car at Kentucky and is scheduled to compete in Saturday's Craftsman Truck event at Martinsville Speedway. Wise, who has one Busch and eight career Truck starts, plans to compete in the Truck race at Atlanta and may test a Cup car in the open session following that weekend. The Waltrip team plans to test both drivers almost weekly for the rest of the year, in the hopes that one or both will be ready to slide behind the wheel of the No. 00 when Reutimann takes over Jarrett's old ride in the spring race at Martinsville next year.

"We have two young men who are in our development program, and we don't know how long it's going to take them to be ready," said Waltrip's general manager Ty Norris. "If we think in six months that they're ready to go to Martinsville, or they're ready to go to Texas, and they've done enough other racing to show it, then that's probably the direction we'll go. But we don't want to make a mistake. The A.J. Allmendinger approach, he probably didn't have enough time to get comfortable before he was thrown into the fire."

The two drivers spent this season as teammates, racing for ARCA car owner Eddie Sharp. McDowell, a career road racer competing in stock cars and on ovals for the first time, won nine poles and four races and finished second overall behind champion Frank Kimmel. Wise, sharing a ride with Ken Butler III, posted six top-10s in 12 starts in addition to an average finish of 17th in eight Truck Series races. But the 24-year-old wonders if he's ready for the leap to NASCAR's top level; drivers well know that getting a chance too soon can be almost as bad as never getting a chance at all.

"It's cool, but it wouldn't hurt my feelings to run another year in Busch," said Wise, from Riverside, Calif. "Ideally for me, I'd like to get a full year in Busch and then just run enough Cup races to keep my rookie status next year, and be able to go and do it right and run a full Cup schedule with the experience I really need at all the tracks. But whatever they want me to do, of course, I'm going to do."

If that means Cup races, he feels he could perform. "From a driving standpoint, I feel I can go as fast as anyone," he said. "But there are just a lot of other factors and lot of things that come into play. Do I think I could do it if they put me in that situation? Absolutely, I could rise to the occasion. But as I said, it wouldn't hurt my feelings to work up to it a little more next year, run some Busch races and try to get some consistency and move on from there."

That could be an option, given that Waltrip plans to field a Nationwide Series car in 2008 in addition to three Sprint Cup entries. McDowell, a 22-year-old from Phoenix who has two career starts in the Champ Car series, believes he's ready for NASCAR's big league.

"I do," said. "Obviously, I'm realistic about how hard it's going to be. But my whole career has been difficult. Going to even the ARCA series this year, not knowing any of the tracks and not knowing the cars, has given me confidence. But I know how hard it's going to be. I know the level of dedication it's going to take. I know how good those guys are at the top level. I'm ready to make sure that I can do it. I have confidence that I can. You put a proper program together with people who believe in you and want to succeed, and it's going to happen. It's just a matter of timing."

McDowell to debut

Michael McDowell will make his Craftsman Truck Series debut in the No. 17 Toyota fielded by Darrell Waltrip Motorsports at Martinsville on Saturday.

Fresh off his fourth ARCA RE/MAX victory for Eddie Sharp Racing this past weekend at Toledo Speedway, the 22-year-old is scheduled to run several NCTS and Busch Series events for Michael Waltrip Racing in order to prepare for next season.

"I am honored to have the opportunity to drive for Darrell Waltrip Motorsports and Michael Waltrip Racing," McDowell said. "Many drivers strive to be in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. I have waited and worked hard to get into one of NASCAR's top levels. This is an outstanding opportunity for me and a big step in my career thanks to the support of the Waltrips and Eddie Sharp."

But that timing may depend on outside factors. Norris has seen how Allmendinger and Sam Hornish have struggled just to qualify, and doesn't want the same thing to happen to his new drivers next year. He points to Roush Fenway rookie David Ragan, whose first Nextel Cup season would have been much more trying had his No. 6 car not been in the top 35 in points. Whether McDowell or Wise gets a start next spring at Martinsville may hinge on whether Reutimann can get the car into the top 35 before he moves over to the No. 44.

"Like I told both Michael McDowell and Josh Wise -- you can either throw a fastball 90 mph over the plate consistently, and it doesn't matter if you're pitching to A-Rod or a guy in junior college. You can either do it or you can't," Norris said. "And what we will find out quickly is whether they can or can't. We believe they both can. And then, how long before we put them in the situation? We don't want to put them in a situation where they're outside the top 35 in points and have to qualify for the first time at Martinsville. It would be unfair to their careers, and we know that."

Those careers spawn from very different backgrounds. Wise's took off when as an unknown he won the Belleville Nationals, the biggest event in midget racing. "It would be like someone from ARCA who no one's ever heard of going and winning the Coca-Cola 600 or something like that," he said. The victory helped him land better rides and eventually catch the eye of Stewart, who put Wise in cars that won a midget title in 2005 and a sprint crown the next year. The support and backing of Stewart, a former USAC legend turned two-time Cup champion, helped Wise strike a developmental deal with Waltrip.

"Every race I've seen Josh run with the ARCA car or the truck, I've felt like he's done an exceptionally good job," Stewart said. "It wouldn't surprise me to see him in a Cup car next year at all."

McDowell's path is more circuitous, and one he thought would lead to Indy-cars. He raced go-karts in Europe against future Formula One drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosburg, raced Mazdas, Mustangs and Grand-Am cars, and finally got what he thought was his big break when the Rocketsports Champ Car team fielded cars for him in the final two events of the 2006 season. He finished 12th at Surfers Paradise, 11th in Mexico City, and seemed to be the promising American driver the series was missing. But the funding never came together, and he found himself knocking on doors. A contact with Chip Ganassi's team led him to Lorin Rainier, the organization's development chief, who in turn sent him to Sharp.

"I just got super lucky to have a contact like that at Ganassi, and to be able to open those doors for me was a huge help," said McDowell, who caught Waltrip's eye because the team owner already had a development deal with Wise. "You can imagine, as a guy not knowing anybody, you could have very easily got into the wrong situation. I could have run 15th all year long, and we wouldn't be talking at all."

Waltrip said last week that he was still working out the details of the transition, leaving open the possibility that the two drivers could spilt time in the car. But right now, it's hard for the two teammates to not feel like they're competing against one another for a ride at the top level of American motorsports.

"He and I sat at breakfast before we went to the [Jarrett news] conference, and we knew what was going to happen," McDowell said. "We knew we were the possibilities and that it was going to be between him and I. We were OK with it. You're always racing somebody for a job. I like Josh a lot, and I've been racing him all year for a job, the way I see it. Every time he and I compete in the ARCA series, I know that Michael and other teams are watching to see who's going to be in front. When you drive for the same team, you're always going to be compared to your teammate's performance. When you have good teammates and you have fast teammates that make you earn it and make you push for it, it just makes the whole program better."

Added Wise: "My whole life, I've raced for every opportunity I've ever had. My parents didn't have any money, I never had any big sponsors to bring along, I never had anything like that. I've had to race for any position I've ever been in. So in realty for me, it's no different than what my whole racing career has been. I've had to race and get results and get along with the teams I've run for and build good relationships my whole life to get to this point. I've had teammates I've raced in situations for, and you just do your best and hopefully your talents exceed everyone else's."

From a team perspective, that competition may not be a bad thing. Again Norris points to Roush, where Kurt Busch seemed to leapfrog Greg Biffle into the Nextel Cup circuit, spurring his teammate on. And the No. 00 won't be the only seat open at Michael Waltrip Racing in the foreseeable future. The team owner is 44, and isn't going to race forever. Whoever doesn't get the No. 00 may be first in line to drive the No. 55.

"We sat down with both of them," Norris said, "and said, 'Look guys, this is not an either-or situation. We want both of you. The 00 will be open. We want to do some Busch and Truck racing. And Michael is going to race for some period of time, whether it's two, three, four, five years, however long he races, and we need to have that next guy.' We'd rather groom our own. [Jack] Roush, for all the things you could say good or bad about the man, he's done a nice job developing his own people with Biffle and Busch and [Carl] Edwards and even [Matt] Kenseth."

That message was received loud and clear. "I know Michael is not going to spend much more than another year or two in the 55, so if I could perform at a Busch level and get some consistency instead of basically just being thrown into Cup, that wouldn't be a bad deal for me," Wise said. "I just want to race. I'm going to go run a midget this weekend because I don't have anything else to do. As long as I have a racecar and food on the table, I really couldn't care less. I just want to race and enjoy every moment of it."

Then there's the matter of the vehicle that Wise and McDowell are vying to drive. Norris said Domino's and Burger King, which are splitting primary sponsorship of that car this year, will not be back in the same capacity in 2008. Although the team is still searching for sponsorship, Waltrip has vowed that the car will not go away. And what happens if sponsorship is found, Reutimann steps out of the vehicle, and neither McDowell or Wise are ready to make the move up?

"We will be able to fill the seat until they get ready, I think," Norris said. The fill-in could be "some guys who lost rides, or might be in the Truck Series right now and want a couple of shots at it. Toyota has some great veteran drivers in the Truck Series that we could probably lean on to run a few races if we had to. As long as everybody knows that these two kids are the ones taking priority, because we're trying to get them ready."