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Fittipaldi tipped for stock car switch

Champ Car driver Christian Fittipaldi is set to turn his back on single-seaters to build a career in the NASCAR Winston Cup

The Brazilian, who drives for Newman-Haas in CART, is due to announce a switch to stock car racing on Wednesday this week.

The 31-year-old will join Petty Enterprises for 2003 to race in NASCAR's secondary Busch Series. He will also run a number Winston Cup races to prepare for a full-time assault on the premier series in 2004. A number of lower category ARCA races may also be included in his programme next season.

Fittipaldi's CART team boss Carl Haas told ESPN.com: "I think it's crazy but if that's what he wants to do, that's what he is going to do."

Fittipaldi has already tried his hand at stock cars. He made his Busch debut at Homestead last year and qualified fifth at the Chicago oval last month. He failed to finish the latter race when his engine blew.

If he does make it into the Winston Cup full-time, Fittipaldi would be the only non-American in the series.

"There is no TV coverage of Winston Cup or Busch in Brazil, but if there was a full-time Brazilian driver then I imagine that the interest level would grow a lot," he said.

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