Clanton Unsure Of Return To Roush
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Clanton Unsure Of Return To Roush
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Posted by jericho on March 27, 2008 at 10:23:05:
So he's the owner of the company sponsoring the car but they won't let him drive it? Why not pull sponsorship then...Joey Clanton is holding out hope that he can return to Roush Fenway Racing and get a second chance in what was supposed to be his full-time seat in the No. 09 Ford.
Clanton, 35, was replaced at California after an eventful season-opening race at Daytona in which he was involved in an accident that ended up collecting teammate Colin Braun and ending the day for both drivers.
"I didn't bring the truck home in one piece and I'm paying the ramifications for it," Clanton said. "I'm still under contract with them, they just made a change right now."
Travis Kvapil, a four-race winner in the trucks for Roush last year, stepped in at California and finished seventh, the first top-10 finish for the three-truck team in 2008. Clanton didn't go to the track or even watch the race on television, instead taking his family to the Georgia Aquarium in his native Atlanta.
"I put so much time into this over the winter, time away from family, from restaurants -- racing just wasn't in my heart Saturday," said Clanton, an owner of Zaxby's restaurants in Georgia. "It had been a hard week, getting over what happened. I needed a direction change, to re-evaluate what's going on.
"It's a tough situation, I'm still trying to do the right thing and be the right person to go back and get into the seat. I didn't want to go to the racetrack, didn't want to speak, didn't want to say the wrong things at the wrong time."
A Roush Fenway spokesperson said the team is also re-evaluating and setting the rest of its truck schedule for the season. Kvapil is said to be a likely candidate to drive the No. 09 when the trucks run in conjunction with Cup weekends (he drives the Yates Racing No. 28 Ford Fusion), but the spokesperson said there is "no guarantee" Clanton will be included at other truck races.