Ray Evernham, three-time NASCAR champion crew chief (with Jeff Gordon) and now an ESPN analyst, was the Newsmaker guest on Wednesday night's The Race Reporters radio show on PowerUpChannel.com. ESPN's Sprint Cup coverage begins with this weekend's Allstate 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Ed Hinton, of ESPN.com, and Bob Pockrass, associate editor of NASCAR Scene, joined me in the questioning.
Here's some of what Evernham said:
Q: Would you ever be interested in working with Dale Earnhardt Jr., if not as crew chief, as team manager or in some other capacity?
A: "First, let me say, I was a Dale Sr. fan and friend and would do anything that I could to help Dale Jr. I have said that I would do anything I can. If there was one guy I was ever going to go back to work for in the business it would be Rick Hendrick. Right now, there are some legal issues. I do have some non-competes (contract clauses) that hold me in place for a while. If those things get taken care of, and Rick Hendrick needed me to go and help him in any way, or help Dale Jr., I would gladly do that.
"I would not be a crew chief. I ended my career as Jeff Gordon's crew chief, so I have no desire to be anyone else's crew chief. I would certainly go and help the Hendrick organization in a consulting role, or any way I can."
Q: When you say non-compete, does that involve your ownership position in Richard Petty Motorsports?
A: "I have a very minority ownership role with Richard Petty Motorsports and, right now, that is the issue with the non-compete."
Listen to the entire show by using this link:
http://www.modavox.com/voiceamerica/vepisode.aspx?aid=39886
The Race Reporters podcast is available on iTunes:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=319558548
Upcoming guests:
July 29 -- Newsmaker: Dario Franchitti. Panelists: Robin Miller, Gordon Kirby.
August 5 -- Newsmaker: Tony Schumacher. Panelists: Dave Kallmann, Susan Wade, Jon Asher.
August 12 -- Newsmakers: Vicki O'Connor (Atlantic series), John Doonan (Mazda), Clark Campbell (VW). Panelists: Jeremy Shaw, Mike Kerchner, Jamie Reynolds.
[ more next Tuesday . . . ]
