Villeneuve out of 27 Cup car for foreseeable future

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Rookie Jacques Villeneuve could be back in Bill Davis Racing's No. 27 Sprint Cup Series Toyota "tomorrow," according to the team owner, if financial backing became available.

But in the absence of sponsorship, BDR announced overnight on Friday that its Cup Series veterans Mike Skinner and Johnny Benson, who currently drive in the Truck Series for Davis; would drive the No. 27, beginning next weekend at California Speedway.

"[Villeneuve] has all the tools in the world to be successful down here, we just have to have money to do it on," Davis said. "The sponsorship dollars have just not come -- they haven't been there and they're not there. We've got some little [sponsorship] deals for these other guys that can get us along for a short period of time.

"I promise you, if [Villeneuve] called tomorrow and had a sponsor, we'd be all set to go."

Skinner, who finished second in the 2007 Truck Series championship and was 29th in Friday night's Chevy Silverado 250, raced in one Cup race last season, at Atlanta where he qualified 14th and finished 24th in BDR's No. 36 -- which became the 27 this season.

Crew chief Slugger Labbe, who has worked with Villeneuve since his initial Cup Series test last fall at Chicagoland Speedway, said as far as he knew, Skinner had yet to drive NASCAR's new chassis, but he wasn't concerned.

"Mike's never made one lap in a COT, as far as I know, so that will be a unique challenge for him," Labbe said. "But Mike's an awesome racecar driver and he wants to help us out, so we're going to go to California and give it our best shot and hopefully make the race.

"Ideally we'd go and test at Kentucky for a day with Mike, but with the logistics we can't. We're going to rely on Mike's driving ability and our test [Jan. 31-Feb. 1] out there in [California].

Benson, who was third Friday night at Daytona and third in last year's Truck championship, ran 2007's last two Cup races, starting 30th and finishing 36th in the new car at Phoenix; and qualifying 20th and finishing 43rd after an engine failure at Homestead.

In all four attempts they made last season, Skinner and Benson were in a position of having to qualify as non-locked-in "go-or-go-home" cars, the same position Davis' No. 27 is in this year.

In the statement released Friday night, Davis confirmed his support for the Canadian, a former CART and Formula One champion and winner of the Indianapolis 500. Villeneuve, who failed to make the Daytona 500 when he crashed out of the second Gatorade Duel last Thursday (watch video), made both Cup races he attempted last season, at Talladega (qualified sixth, finished 21st) and Phoenix (27th to 41st).

"We know that Jacques has the talent and the desire to be in NASCAR," Davis said, "and are diligently working on a long-term relationship with him."

Davis fielded trucks in seven races for Villeneuve last season, where his best qualifying was third at Homestead and his best race finish, 14th at Atlanta. Labbe worked with Villeneuve since September and had formed a bond.

"From my side of it, the day [Villeneuve] walked through the door, they handed him off to me and said 'take this guy from A to Z, make him understand the rules and how our sport works and let's get him up to speed,'" Labbe said. "That's been my project from day one, so it bothers me the most that he's not here.

"But on the other side, you gotta wear two hats -- the crew chief hat and then the business side of it. And it's just tough, because our sport is expensive, and [Villeneuve] and his group were working very hard on sponsorships.

"We've built a bunch of cars for [Villeneuve], have gone testing and spent a lot of time in the wind tunnel. But it gets to this point -- they thought they had a sponsor for the whole year; we had the cars decaled and uniforms made and like you've read 100 times before -- the check never [came].

Davis' initial plan was to run Villeneuve in all 36 points races this season, and the former open-wheeler has registered for the Sprint Cup Raybestos rookie of the year program.