Hmiel to make Cup debut at Daytona

Rising NASCAR star Shane Hmiel will make his debut in the top-level Winston Cup at the Pepsi 400 race at Daytona International Speedway, in a one-off deal with the Petty Enterprises team

Jun 24, 2003, 4:37 PM

Hmiel, a leading challenger in this year's Busch Series with the Innovative Motorsports team, will drive the famous number 43 car in the night race at the 2.5-mile super speedway. Christian Fittipaldi, who recently replaced John Andretti in the car, will move over to Petty's #44 car for the weekend.

"We are very excited to have a young talent like Shane Hmiel drive the #43 for us at Daytona," said Petty CEO Kyle Petty. "Innovative Motorsports are very gracious in allowing us to 'borrow' Shane for this event."

"Daytona and Petty are some pretty special names," said Hmiel. "I'm really excited at this opportunity, and I am so glad [Innovative owner] George deBidart and Kyle Petty could work this out."

Meanwhile, the Morgan-McClure team is continuing to look for a replacement for Mike Skinner, who was sacked prior to the last race of the series. Busch Series regular Stacy Compton is currently favourite to land the drive.