BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Veteran NASCAR driver Mike Bliss went out of his way Friday in the Nationwide Series garage at Michigan International Speedway to say he was giving a politically correct answer to a seemingly puzzling question.

That was, how he got fired almost two weeks ago from owner James Finch's Nationwide car while he was sixth in the drivers' championship, yet put Finch's Phoenix Racing Sprint Cup car into the lineup for Sunday's Carfax 400 at MIS.

“

He's a helluva race car driver -- to be sixth in points and let go out of your ride is kinda crazy, to me.

”

JOE NEMECHEK

“

Right now top-10s aren't good enough. We've wiped out five cars this year and we feel like we ought to be third in points, not sixth.

”

MARC RENO, Phoenix Racing

Finch's team manager, Marc Reno, said Friday that a succession of Sprint Cup drivers would steer the No. 1 Nationwide Chevrolet. It began with Ryan Newman last weekend at Watkins Glen, to Reed Sorenson at Michigan and Bristol, Max Papis at Montreal, Newman at Atlanta and then Martin Truex Jr. at Richmond and Dover, all that's currently set.

Bliss, who took a moment to speak to a visitor while he sought an engine that would make his Saturday effort more competitive, said despite decades in racing, which began in the Pacific Northwest, he almost didn't know what to think.

"It doesn't make much sense to me either, and it's really kind of disheartening," Bliss said. "You felt like you were giving it your all, but it wasn't good enough. There were some areas there I thought we could improve on, but you really got to bite your lip.

"But that's fine [because] every team's working hard and they want to improve and that area there, to win races consistently the next step was [changing] the driver in the seat. I don't agree with them, and it's just a lot of money that was given up, with this points deal and now, not having a job, with the way everything is, you just can't go out and get a job."

But Bliss does have a paycheck this weekend after he put Finch's No. 09 Sprint Cup Dodge into the show in 28th position. Bliss is 7-for-7 in attempts in Finch's Cup car this season. The car's made 10 of 15 races with other drivers.

"They called me about running the Cup car last week," Bliss said. "I don't know if James is trying to help me out a little bit and he knew I made races in that car and that'll put a little money back in my pocket, but it's rough. It's a paycheck, but I'm telling you, you just suck it up, you've got big shoulders and you say, 'OK, I'll go give you all I can.'

"I gave them all I could out there [Friday], and I don't hold anything against nobody, because it's my life and my career and I need to make house payments."

Bliss, the 2002 Truck Series champion and former USAC open-wheel champion who has 454 starts in NASCAR's three national series since making his Truck debut in 1995, currently sits seventh, 151 points ahead of 11th place in the Nationwide drivers' standings, which ironically is Michael McDowell, who went into scramble mode six races ago trying to maintain a top-10 spot after his sponsorship at JTG Daugherty Racing dried up.

"It really makes you look at the sport, you just want to throw your hands up and just give up -- but this is all I know," Bliss said. "I love racing and I love the Nationwide Series. We're all supposed to be big race car drivers, but it makes you just want to cry. It really hurts, but that's just the way it goes." (Continued)