Mattei Sole Owner of Team

HARRISBURG, N.C. (Sept. 17, 1998) Jim Mattei now stands as the sole owner of Mattei Motorsports, following the signing of a letter of intent with partner and driver Geoff Bodine.

Mattei and Bodine recently reached agreement for Mattei to purchase Bodine's remaining ownership in the team, which Bodine acquired from the late Alan Kulwicki's estate in 1993. Mattei became partners with Bodine midway through 1997, and helped lead the team to two Bud Poles and five top-10 finishes in the final 13 events of the season.

According to Mattei, the move marks another positive step in the building process he started last year.

"I'm excited about Geoff being able to focus exclusively on driving and continuing to achieve the level of performance that he has the past couple of weeks," Mattei said. "With eight races left this year, we still have an opportunity to make our presence felt in the Winston Cup Series."

Bodine also welcomes the change in his status.

"This is not a bad thing, this is a good thing for me," Bodine said. "It's a relief. A lot of things have gone on with this team during the past four-plus years -- some really good, and some not-so-good. To relinquish my ownership of the team helps put the negative things behind me and will enable me to concentrate on driving and working with the team."

Bodine and the Philips Ford team head into this weekend's MBNA Gold 400 at Dover Downs International Speedway on the heels of two of their strongest performances of the year -- a ninth at Darlington Raceway and a 13th last Saturday at Richmond International Raceway.

Source: NASCAR Online