Garage Chatter: MIS II

Mayfield court papers show bitter split: Elliott Sadler is in his shiny new red pit suit this weekend and Jeremy Mayfield is on the back porch in North Carolina sitting this one out, but despite Mayfield and Ray Evernham saying they had an amicable split - court papers filed by Mayfield to block his firing show otherwise.

The paperwork alleges that Evernham's 'close personal relationship' with a female driver in his employ was cause for great distraction with the organization and within the No. 19 Dodge team. Erin Crocker is the only female racecar driver in Evernham's employ.

"During the 2006 Nextel Cup season, Ray Evernham has not continued to actively participate in the management and day to day activities and operations of the Team. Instead, for significant periods of time he had been, at best, and absentee manager and owner largely because.at some point in time Ray Evernham had entered into an (sic) close personal relationship with a female driver he engages to drive on NASCAR's ARCA, Truck and Busch Series. That relationship became a subject of considerable discussion and distraction in the Nextel Cup garage area during the 2006 season," stated the complaint filed August 9, 2006 at the North Carolina Superior Court civil division, Iredell County Courthouse, Statesville, NC.

Even though things seem to be settled down on the driving front the bitter split between surely takes Evernham off of Jeremy and Shana Mayfield's Christmas card list.

Martin's retirement tour may get one more stint: Mark Martin has been trying to retire for two years from the NASCAR Nextel Cup series. He promised this would be his final tour of duty last year, but last weekend Martin stated that he might run 12 Cup races and the full Truck schedule in 2007.

Todd Kluever is being groomed to take over the No. 6 Roush Ford but his results have been spotty and may need more "seasoning" before join the elite ranks of the Cup series.

Gordon not buying Yates: Reports that Robby Gordon is in talks to purchase a majority interest in Robert Yates Racing are false. Gordon is speaking to several organizations about merging operations but has no plans to outright purchase another existing team.

Gilliland may be OK'd to run Talladega: The only fly in the ointment of signing David Gilliland to drive for the rest of the season in the No. 38 Robert Yates Racing Ford was that the driver had not been cleared by NASCAR to run at it's restrictor plate tracks.

NASCAR, however, is going to watch his performance the next few weeks and Gilliland may be cleared to race that event. He is running the ARCA race at Talladega for Yates that weekend as well.

Gilliland has signed a multi-year deal with Yates. Todd Parrott resumes crew chief duties of the No. 38 Ford this weekend.

The move looks to be working out well. Sadler was second quickest during practice for Cup teams at MIS; Gilliland was fifth.

"I've had a stressful month and a half, two months just getting everything done the right way," said Sadler. "That's something I keep close to my heart, making sure we do things the right way. Whether it was leaving where we were leaving or coming to Ray and Evernham Motorsports. Those guys have been helpful of getting me fitted in here. We tested this week and everything went good. I'm ready to start a new chapter in my life. I think it's going to be a really good weekend here at Michigan."

Toyota COT debut: The Toyota Camry will make its Car of Tomorrow testing debut at Michigan International Speedway on Monday. Bill Elliott will test for Team Red Bull and Michael Waltrip and Dave Blaney will test for Michael Waltrip Racing.

Jeff Gordon, David Stremme, J.J. Yeley, Joe Nemechek, Jeff Green, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Jamie McMurray and Scott Riggs are also expected to participate in the COT test session for their respective manufacturers.