BUSCH: McFarland loses JR Motorsports ride

Little was said by team owner Dale Earnhardt, Jr. on the reason why Mark McFarland was released as the driver of JR Motorsports' No. 88 Chevy in the NASCAR Busch Series competition for the remainer of the 2006 season.

McFarland was name to drive the Monte Carlo in the infancy of the team's foray into Busch racing, a step up from running in the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series last year. The former go-karter even went back to driving school to learn how to race again on road courses.

His debut race in the NBS was at Daytona, his first road course was at the Mexico City venue. Now, the young racer will have to look elsewhere for a ride amongst heavy competition of others doing the same for next year. His replacement for this weekends race at The Glen will be Martin Turex, Jr., the 2005 Busch series champion who still drives for Dale Earnhart, Inc. in his rookie season as a NASCAR Nextel Cup driver.

It is a fact that McFarland has not had a stellar season thus far, sitting 22nd in the Busch standings after last weekend's race at the Indianapolis O'Reilly Raceway Park. He has finished in the top ten once.

The team has not named a replacement driver in the NAVY Accelerate Your Life Chevrolet for the 10 races after Watkins Glen on the calendar of which all are on ovals. Earnhardt, Jr. made only a brief statement: "Mark was instrumental in getting our Busch program off the ground and he will always have a role in the history of JR Motorsports.

But the reality is that as a business we have the responsibility of delivering a level of performance for our sponsors. This change is being made to address that concern."