TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Michael Waltrip said Friday morning he has not hired a second Nextel Cup driver for his Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota effort in 2007 but has talked with Robert Yates Racing driver Dale Jarrett.
In a morning interview session with the media at Talladega Superspeedway, Waltrip said he has not pursued a driver who is under contract for 2007, and the 1999 Winston Cup champion is not signed for next season.
"I haven't really talked about that a whole lot," Waltrip said. "Obviously, it's been in the media that his deal is up this year, and so you ought to be able to figure out that I probably have. How could you not? He's a champion and he's a friend. I did ask him but I don't have anything to report on the answer."
Waltrip, who has sponsorship from NAPA for his Cup effort next year, did say he has sponsorship settled for two Nextel Cup teams but won't announce the other sponsor until he settles on a driver.
"We want to make sure that we hire the best available guy that we can get, and we don't want to be controversial about it," Waltrip said. "We just want to get the guy and have the guy want us and be ready to go for '07."
Waltrip said he had talked with recently retired Ricky Rudd but only about possibly doing what Bill Elliott was eventually signed to do - run a partial schedule this year for MWR as it gets ready for the full-time effort.
Larry Carter and Bobby Kennedy are building the Chevrolets for Bill Elliott to run this season with Burger King sponsorship. He said that should help build the team in getting ready for the Toyota debut next season.
He also said he has sponsorship for one of his two Busch Series teams. He said he would like David Reutimann, the driver for Darrell Waltrip Motorsports in the trucks, drive one of those Busch cars. He also said that Reutimann's teammate, Joey Miller, is a possibility for the other Busch car.
