Lewis, Grubb ponder futures in Busch Series
By Ryan Smithson, Turner Sports Interactive
November 5, 2001
5:28 PM EST (2228 GMT)
ROCKINGHAM, N.C. -- Aside from a couple of announcements that will come in two weeks in Atlanta, the NASCAR Winston Cup Silly Season is all but over.
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Kevin Grubb
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But the driver lineup for the 2002 Busch Series season is lot less certain. For two Virginians in the Busch Series, the sit-and-wait period is just starting.
Both Kevin Grubb and Ashton Lewis are at crossroads late in the season. Grubb, still only 23, has driven Brewco Motorsports’ No. 37 Chevrolets full-time since 1999 -- one of the longest current driver-owner relationships in the Busch Series -- but Grubb has offers to drive elsewhere in 2002.
Lewis, 29, has also received calls about driving for other teams, but he wants to stay in the No. 46 Chevrolet with his family-owned operation -- Lewis Motorsports. The team has run the entire 2001 season without permanent sponsorship; and since they use engines from Roush Racing, their overall costs have been high.
Lewis Motorsports has only nine employees. Ashton’s father Charlie owns the operation, and Ashton Jr., a mechanical engineering graduate of Old Dominion, serves as the team’s engineer.
Despite the lack of sponsorship, Lewis has made 30 of the 31 Busch Series events -- the team skipped the race at Gateway. All three of his top-10 finishes have come since June. He finished fifth at Kentucky, ninth at Memphis and fifth at Charlotte in October. He is 21st in the standings with one race to go.
Lewis hopes the team can find sponsorship for 2002 so that he can stay with the outfit his family built from the ground up. He says that there are a couple of sponsorship feelers that would allow the team to run half the 2002 season, but finding a permanent primary sponsor remains a constant goal.
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The No. 46 has sported a humorous "Your Logo Here" paint scheme this year.
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“We have a sponsor right now that is interested in doing the full season,” Lewis said. “We won’t know the answer until Dec. 2, so we have a little bit of waiting to do.
“We are going to do what we can to keep it together. I have had a couple offers -- I have heard from a couple of people, but I want to stay here and build the team. Going somewhere else is not my priority.”
Grubb appeared to be headed to another team, but he says now that he is renegotiating to return to Brewco for a fourth season. Like Lewis, Grubb has experienced a similar second-half turnaround. Grubb had only three top-15 finishes in the first 15 races, and rumors surfaced that Grubb was out of a job.
But the rumors proved false, and Grubb has posted six top-10 finishes since then, including third-place showings at Gateway, Richmond and Milwaukee.
Despite his age, Grubb already has 82 career Busch starts, and that experience has been attractive to a few Winston Cup teams.
“I am talking with about five teams,” Grubb said. “I have talked with Cup teams, and I wouldn’t mind running a full season in Winston Cup, but preferably, I want to run a full Busch season (in 2002) and run a limited schedule in Cup -- just enough to keep my rookie status.”
Grubb does not want to move into Winston Cup without scoring a Busch Series victory. So far, he has been shut out. He was second at Dover in 1998 after starting from the pole.
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Grubb has come close to winning a Busch race; but so far, no cigar.
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“I’d like to win some Busch races,” Grubb said. “We get closer every year. If we keep beating at it, we will win some races.”
Grubb admits that he is exploring all options, and he wouldn’t rule out moving to the Craftsman Truck Series if it was a good situation.
“It all depends on the opportunity,” Grubb said. “Actually, I thought about that. I love the Truck Series. It would just depend on the equipment.”
Lewis knows his immediate future lies in the Busch Series. The team has already ordered a new car for Daytona.
“I’d rather sit here and run a 15-race deal with this team than go somewhere else,” Lewis said. “I think we have a future ahead of us. We have a heck of a team.”
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