Davidson Turned Down Champ Car Offer

The Newman-Haas team approached the Briton at the end of last month with an offer to replace Bruno Junqueira, who got injured in a massive crash during the Indianapolis 500 last Sunday. 

The Brazilian driver is expected to be out of action for around six months.

"I got approached by Newman-Haas to replace Bruno Junqueira," Davidson told the ITV-F1 website. "But I decided not to go forward with it because my main objective is race with BAR-Honda in Formula One next year."

Davidson was a front runner for one of BAR's racing seats this year after Jenson Button announced last season he was leaving for the Williams team. The move, however, was blocked by BAR and Button had to stay with the Honda-powered team.

Button, however, is expected to leave at the end of the year, with his contract with BAR believed to contain a clause enabling Williams to claim him for 2006 if he has scored less than 70 percent of the Championship leader's points tally at a certain point during the season.

Button is yet to score a point after BAR were excluded from the San Marino Grand Prix and banned for the next two races.

The ITV-F1 website said sources indicated Davidson was the main candidate to replace Button should he leave.