Chad McCumbee is under contract to drive for Petty Enterprises in 2009, though the number of Sprint Cup races he and the second Petty team will run as a teammate to Bobby Labonte will depend on sponsorship, the team has confirmed.
Petty Enterprises CEO David Zucker was asked about his plans for McCumbee at the Street & Smith's Motorsports Marketing Forum.
"It's tough to break into the sport, and I think expectations sometimes get ahead of the game," Zucker said. "We've seen it with some of the younger drivers. It takes a while. We don't want to bring them (up) too fast. You've got to invest in younger drivers. The sport needs it. Our plan is to bring him in and get him some exposure but not bring him in too fast."
Aflac Wants Edwards to Mind Manners Aflac loves Carl Edwards and is paying big money to pair him with its iconic duck in commercials and on the hood of his car, but the company would like to not see its driver scuffling with other drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup garage area.
Aflac vice president Al Johnson, speaking at the Street & Smith's Motorsports Marketing Forum on Tuesday, talked about the line drivers have with their sponsors in showing their emotions.
"Obviously, we're very protective of our brand," said Johnson, who oversees all advertising for the company. "We certainly don't want garage scuffles going on or things to happen • whether it's a celebrity that's in one of our commercials on down to a sports star.
"But we do want people to be true to themselves."
Johnson said he believes his company has found the right person in Edwards and doesn't want the Roush Fenway Racing driver to hide his passion. Aflac just doesn't want it go overboard as it did in the Lowe's Motor Speedway garage area in October when Edwards and Kevin Harvick got in a brief shoving match.
"We want someone like Carl Edwards, who has certain beliefs, sticks by them and stands up for them because that's the way we are as a brand as well," he said.
Johnson Tables Trip to Thailand Jimmie Johnson has tabled a planned offseason trip to Thailand after protestors had shut down an airport in Bangkok for a week and left the country's government in turmoil.
"We just canceled our trip and (are) trying to think of what to do now," the three-time NASCAR Cup champion said Tuesday. "We're on short notice, and I'm sure we can think something out. We really wanted to travel somewhere off the wall and far. I'm not sure where we'll end up now."
Ironically, both Johnson and Carl Edwards had plans to go to Thailand. Edwards wanted to go biking throughout the country.
That wasn't Johnson's plan.
"I'm going to drink; I'm going to eat bad food," the Hendrick Motorsports driver said about the planned trip. "(Edwards is) going to ride and eat...bird feed and drink water the whole time. That's not me.
"I'd meet him and ride through a town on a bike. But to go with backpacks, from town to town to town, there's no way. And I just don't think it's all that safe to ride around there right now."
