BDR needs sponsorship for Villeneuve
By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Friday, February 15, 2008
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Whether Jacques Villeneuve will attempt to qualify for the Auto Club 500 next week at California Speedway is being evaluated because of the lack of sponsorship of the Bill Davis Racing team.
The former Formula One champion has been working to obtain sponsorship for the No. 27 NASCAR Sprint Cup car, but he crashed during a 150-mile qualifying race Thursday and failed to make the field for Sunday's Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
“We’ve got to have a sponsor,” Davis said Friday morning at Daytona International Speedway. “We’re going to [sit down] in the next day or two and kind of re-evaluate. They have a lot of companies up there [in Canada] in play. Some are very interested.
“We’ll have to see where we’re at. Obviously, not getting in this deal was a lick, [but] I think everybody was realistic about the odds.”
Villeneuve competed in two Sprint Cup races last season and thought he was close to sponsorship before parting ways with business manager Craig Pollock.
That left him looking for sponsorship over the last month.
“It seems to be harder than it should be – we’ll find out,” Villeneuve said after the race Thursday about whether he would find sponsorship. “[Potential sponsors] won’t be angry with this race because they weren’t there.”
One thing in BDR’s favor is that its No. 22 car of Dave Blaney has run well during Speedweeks. Blaney, who was third at Talladega in October in the last restrictor-plate race, could have a strong run.
“It would be an indicator of the equipment and the team’s capabilities,” Davis said.
Would Davis, who also is working to find a sponsor for the No. 27 car, consider putting another driver in there for California?
“We’ll evaluate that,” Davis said. “It depends what comes up.”
The team is outside the top 35 and most likely would need to make the next four races to crack the top 35 before this year’s points are used to determine the 35 guaranteed spots in each race.
“You would have a fighting chance,” Davis said. “That’s a hard order, but it is possible.”
