NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: Elliott Returns With One-Race Deal
News and notes from Thursday's stops on the Sprint Media Tour...
Mike Hembree  |  Posted January 26, 2012   Concord, NC
Bill Elliott will compete in the July Sprint Cup event at Daytona. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Bill Elliott is back.

Walmart announced Thursday morning that it will sponsor former Sprint Cup champion Elliott in a one-race deal for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway in July.

The car, a Chevrolet numbered 50 in celebration of the retail giant’s 50th anniversary, will be entered by Turner Motorsports and will have engines prepared by Hendrick Motorsports.

“Turner Motorsports has a lot of resources,” Elliott said. “I think they can do a really good job from what they’ve done in the Nationwide Series. I feel comfortable with it. I’m very excited about this program.”

Elliott said bringing Walmart into NASCAR is a major move. He compared it to NASCAR racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time in 1994.

Elliott, 56, raced part of the Sprint Cup schedule last season with Phoenix Racing, the team that will field cars this year for Kurt Busch.

Elliott won the Sprint Cup championship in 1988. He hasn’t run a full-season schedule in several years.

NASCAR Executives On Tour – The annual Charlotte Motor Speedway Sprint Media Tour will conclude Thursday with a visit with NASCAR executives.

NASCAR chairman Brian France, president Mike Helton and other sanctioning body officials are scheduled to appear at a press conference at the Charlotte Convention Center at lunchtime.

NASCAR revealed Wednesday that it is ending its policy of “secret” fines and, in the future, will announce when it fines competitors.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 29 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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