Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Sadler lends hand to allow Long shot

Friday, Feb. 27, 2004 | 10:02 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Carl Long may have destroyed his only NASCAR Nextel Cup car in a violent crash last weekend at North Carolina Speedway, but Long has secured a ride for next Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Veteran NASCAR driver Hermie Sadler has agreed to let Long drive his SCORE Motorsports No. 02 Pontiac Grand Prix next weekend. Sadler co-owns SCORE Motorsports with retired NBA player Bryant Stith.

"I am very honored about having another shot to race in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series -- especially with SCORE Motorsports," Long said. "I am very confident that I will be able to give 150 percent behind the wheel for the team and I feel there should be no reason why a top-20 finish should be out of the question."

Long, 37, made his ninth career Nextel Cup start last Sunday in Rockingham and was running in the top 35 when he was involved in a multicar crash and his No. 46 Dodge flipped several times down the backstretch. Long was not injured in the accident.

"This opportunity with Hermie Sadler and SCORE Motorsports came before our accident on Sunday," Long said. "I've been friends with Hermie for many years and this was a deal that was beneficial to both of us."

Sadler, who will be driving in Saturday's Sam's Town 300 NASCAR Busch Series race at LVMS, said the deal with Long would be beneficial to both parties.

"Carl and I talked last Friday at Rockingham and it seemed like a win-win situation for both of us," Sadler said. "We are looking to have a presence in the Nextel Cup Series and this opportunity allows us to do that while allowing me to focus my attention to the performance of our Busch Series team."

Sadler's No. 02 Busch Series Chevrolet will carry sponsorship next weekend from the Treasure Island hotel-casino. The team is searching for sponsorship for its Nextel Cup car -- which is the only Pontiac entered in next weekend's race.

"At this point, we do not have a primary sponsor but we are looking and asking any interested parties to please contact us," Sadler said.

The part-time drivers who will attempt to qualify for the race are Las Vegas native Kyle Busch, Johnny Benson, Bill Elliott, Kirk Shelmerdine, Larry Gunselman, Andy Hillenburg, Morgan Shepherd, Carl Long, John Andretti and Larry Foyt.

Benson and Elliott both have started each of the previous six Nextel Cup races at LVMS and both drivers have posted three top-10 finishes here. Benson finished fourth in the 1998 and 2001 race and Elliott best finish at LVMS was fourth in 2000.

Andretti also has competed in all six Cup races here; his best finish was 12th in 1999. Foyt made his Las Vegas Cup debut last season and finished 35th.

Gunselman (1998) and Shepherd (1999) failed to qualify for the race in their only attempts while Hillenburg, Shelmerdine, Long and Busch will be making their first Nextel Cup visits at Las Vegas.

The top 38 drivers in Friday's qualifying session will earn spots in the 43-car field for Sunday's race. The remaining five spots will be filled via provisionals based on the 2003 car owners points standings and, if applicable, a past Nextel Cup champion who did not qualify on time.

The full-time Nextel Cup drivers who will attempt to qualify for the Sam's Town 300 are Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, Johnny Sauter, Jamie McMurray, Robby Gordon, Michael Waltrip, Joe Nemechek, Greg Biffle and Kasey Kahne. Biffle and Kahne also are running full Busch Series schedules this season.

FitzBradshaw Racing, which is owned by Armando Fitz and Terry Bradshaw, will field three cars in Saturday's race. In addition to the No. 12 (Tim Fedewa) and No. 14 (Casey Atwood), the team is fielding the No. 82 Chevrolet for Busch Series veteran Randy LaJoie.

"I think, once we win a race this year -- hopefully it'll be soon -- we'll have to yank the steering wheel straight out of the car, sign it with our Silver Metallic Sharpie and throw it into the grandstands," Busch deadpanned. "Maybe we'll see if we get fined by NASCAR or not."

"I don't care what anybody says, A-Rod is not as big as Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning the Daytona 500," Griffey told the St. Petersburg Times. "They can talk for days and days about A-Rod, but there was nothing bigger than Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning the Daytona 500."

OWRS attempted to acquire the rights to the race from the owner, Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, Inc., which is a subsidiary of Dover Motorsports, Inc. The open-wheel series said it could not proceed with plans for a race without the consent of former rights holder Tom Begley.

"Champ Car worked very hard to hold the St. Petersburg race in 2004," Champ Car president Dick Eidswick said. "The City of St. Petersburg, under the leadership of Mayor Rick Baker, provided phenomenal support as we tried to reach an agreement to hold the race.

"Unfortunately, individuals unrelated to Champ Car kept that from happening, which is a disappointment not only to our drivers and teams, but more importantly to the many Champ Car fans throughout the Southeast."

Eidswick said he remained hopeful that the series one day could return to the Florida city. The Champ Car World Series opens its 2004 season April 18 in Long Beach.