Bill Lester, one of NASCAR's most promising, and yet most veteran, minority drivers, will try to make his Nextel Cup debut at Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend, in a Bill Davis car, nominally a Dodge but without factory support.
Ricky Viers, Lester's crew chief, tested at Kentucky last weekend for this attempt. The team will also likely run at Michigan in June and California Speedway in September.
"I'm really looking forward to my first Cup start," said Lester, a 45-year-old engineer. "I've been waiting for this opportunity for a long time. Your first start in the Cup series is something you dream of your whole life. The possibilities from this point forward are endless, and I can't wait to see what happens from here."
Michael Waltrip would just like to finish one of these early races.
Call it growing pains or whatever, but Waltrip, who is driving for Bill Davis this season after years at Dale Earnhardt Inc., finished 35th at Las Vegas and 36th at California, after a mediocre 18th at Daytona. And he crashed in the Busch race in Mexico City.
"Last year we struggled through the first three races and then went to Atlanta and finished seventh," Waltrip said. "We have once again come out of the box slow, but we feel everything we learned last year will transfer, and we'll have a good run."
However, Waltrip said that he's getting worried.
"Four or five races into the year pretty much show a trend," he said. "If you can't hit your butt with either hand in four races at the four different tracks, it might be a long year.
"Now sometimes some guys don't get their new deals figured out for six to 10 races and still go on to have a good season. But you'd like to think you'd have everything figured out by Atlanta."
Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be one of the favorites this weekend, because Atlanta Motor Speedway has been a good track for him. And he's certainly hoping that the race will be a turning point for him and crew chief Tony Eury Jr., back at the helm this year.
"Even with Sunday's finish (27th) we've gained a lot of ground since last year," Earnhardt said.
"Atlanta is a track me and Tony Jr. always ran great at. I think he's the best crew chief at Atlanta. We always go in feeling like we've got something to work with and a good chance to win. His cars are fast, and the last time we were there (together) we led the most laps and hung around the top-five the entire day. That felt good."
Robby Gordon is pleased with his season so far. As one of the tour's few owner-drivers, Gordon is trying to establish his team as a contender. Last year, his first as an independent, he got off to a dismal start, played catch-up all season, and never really caught up, missing several races.
This season, though, he's a solid 14th in the standings.
"That was probably the best race I've ever seen Robby drive," Greg Erwin, his crew chief, said. "And hats off to him on that four-tire call with two laps to go (for the green-white-checkered). I was probably going to get two, but he opted for four."
