Musgrave to fill gap at SABCO.

After over a week of deliberation, SABCO/Ganassi patron Felix Sabates announced on Monday that the space in the team left by the late Kenny Irwin will be filled by ex-Roush man Ted Musgrave in the upcoming races at Pocono and Indianapolis until a permanent successor can be found.

Irwin, 1998 NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the year and driver of the #42 BellSouth Chevrolet, was killed during practice for the thatlook.com 300 at the New Hampshire International Speedway. Musgrave will pilot a newly liveried #01 Chevrolet after it was agreed to abandon the old colour scheme and number out of respect for Kenny.

Sabates, who has run the operation since 1987 has always carried the number 42 on one of his cars but was hit particularly hard by the death of his young star. "Kenny was the future of the No.42 team. To put someone else in his seat with his number wouldn't feel right," stated the team-owner in a press release announcing the change of personnel.

Sabates and team co-owner Chip Ganassi chose not to attend last weeks General Motors test session at Indianapolis while they considered a number of driver options. The names Todd Bodine, Derrike Cope, (Busch Grand National stars) Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Green, Randy LaJoie and Kevin Harvick and veteran Hut Stricklin were all connected the ride but it was Musgrave, who joined Jack Roush in 1994 and spent four seasons in the Family Channel Ford entry, who got the nod.

Out of a full time ride since a disappointing season with Galaxy Motorsports last year, Musgrave stood in for the injured Geoffrey Bodine earlier this season and will race in Sunday's Pennsylvania 500 and the Brickyard 400 on August 5th. The team will then try and recruit a road-racing specialist for the Watkins Glen round of the series before announcing their plans for the rest of the year.

Musgrave is still in contention for the full time ride as he has plenty of Winston Cup experience and can help the team cope through what is a very difficult period. Sabates and Ganassi have both indicated that they would like to have another young driver in the 01 car for 2001 to partner experienced veteran Sterling Marlin. Both co-owners are currently looking into the possibility of promoting a driver from the Busch Grand National Series.