“I am very proud of the Diamond-Waltrip race team and the progress our team has made this year,” said majority owner Gary Bechtel. “On the track, this has been a sensational season and I feel as if we can win a race before the end of the season.”
He also commented publically for the first time on the departure of Bayne, who placed the #99 Toyota solidly in the Top-10 in Nationwide points before being released this week. Bechtel said the issue was not sponsorship for this season, but a provision in Bayne’s contract requiring DWR to guarantee him a spot in their 2011 lineup. Bechtel called the issue “simply economics,” adding, “DWR held an option on Trevor’s contract, but without appropriate funding, we could not match the provisions of that contract extension by guaranteeing him a full-time ride in the No. 99 car next year. We could not commit to the demands of the agreement. “We all wanted to work towards a positive solution,” said Bechtel, “but time was not on our side. We had to make a business decision and Trevor had to make a business decision. We owe it to our race team, sponsors and everyone personally invested in this organization to move forward with those who will be with us in 2011 and beyond.”
Bechtel said his Nationwide Series team is finalizing a program he expects to announce soon. “We have a very good plan in place, but we just haven’t reached a point where we can publicly discuss it at this time.”
No comments:
Post a Comment