Jeff Fuller out of ride, Mike Bliss in for the weekend

Fuller out, Bliss in at Eel River
By Marty Smith

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Apr. 5, 2000) NASCAR Winston Cup Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate Jeff Fuller has been released by Eel River Racing after just seven races, the team announced early Wednesday morning.

"It just didn't work out," Fuller said from his home Wednesday morning. "It's a shame really, because the qualifying part we were really getting good at, we just never really hit on the race deal. You've got a lot of competitive people in the Winston Cup garage area that are driven to win, and that's what they do. Everybody in there wants to go out and run up front and win if possible. And it just didn't work for us."

Mike Bliss, who also entered the season as a rookie of the year contender but was fired by A.J. Foyt after just four races, will drive the No. 27 Viagra Pontiac this weekend at Martinsville.

No permanent replacement has been chosen.

Fuller struggled direly all year, failing to qualify for the Daytona 500, and finishing outside the top-35 in all but one race after that. His best finish came at Atlanta, when he drove home 22nd. He has no future plans at this time.

"I'm disappointed we couldn't make it work, but I'm not disappointed for having the chance to drive it," Fuller said. "Like I said, as far as qualifying went, I think we surprised a lot of people, I'm just disappointed we couldn't get the line of communication open to have better runs."

Bliss drove the Eel River car twice in 1999, finishing 32nd at Martinsville and 42nd at Rockingham. He finished 33rd in this season's Daytona 500, but failed to qualify for the three races thereafter, leading to his release.

-nascar.com-