Paul Tracy's transition from open wheel racing to stock cars will begin on NASCAR's biggest stage.
Tracy confirmed Friday what has already been speculated and reported, that he has signed a five race deal to compete in the NASCAR Busch Grand National series. Frank Cicci Racing, which is co-owned by NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly, will field a Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Tracy at the season opening event February 18 at Daytona.
"This is an opportunity that I've been trying to put together for the last year and a half and its finally come to fruition," said Tracy.
"I've had a great career in Champ Car and I've been kind of dabbling into NASCAR to see if there's an opportunity and now there's an opportunity. My first five races, my focus is on doing the best I can and learn as much as I can, finish each race and finish well. Hopefully that will open up more opportunities for the future."
The former Champ Car World Series champion will go pedal to pedal against some of NASCAR's best, such as Dale Earnhardt Jr., who will take part in the Busch Series race as preparation for the season opening NASCAR race, the Daytona 500.
From there, Tracy will take part in the second running of a NASCAR event in Mexico City at a track he is very familiar with on the Champ Car series.
On March 11, Tracy returns to his "home away from home", Las Vegas, before taking a break until August when he is scheduled to return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on August 5th. That will mark his first return to the Brickyard since 2002 when IRL officials overturned his victory at the Indianapolis 500.
Tracy will close out his five race deal on September 2nd at Fontana.
Except for Daytona, Tracy has experience at all the other tracks he will race on in 2006.
"I'm very excited about my first opportunity to race in NASCAR, especially in the biggest race of the year at Daytona. I'm looking forward at getting some practice in here and my first experience at drafting in Daytona," explained Tracy whose previous experience at the superspeedway was behind the wheel of a Grand Am car.
"I don't expect (the transition) to be easy, for sure. The level of the competition and the level of the driver's and the teams in NASCAR is definitely tough, so I gotta go out there and get my feet wet. There's guys that have made the transition successfully and there's guys that haven't. Hopefully I'll be on the right end of it."
As for the possibility of adding a Craftsman Truck or Nextel Cup race to his schedule in 2006, Tracy said those possibilities remain up in the air at this point.
"Right now we have the five Busch races for sure. If we could piggy back some of those events with some other races in there, it's only gonna get me more experience in these types of cars.
"We don't have anything concrete (but) we're working with Frank (Cicci) to try and find a truck to drive in a couple of races."
Tracy has already confirmed his return with Forsythe Racing on the Champ Car circuit in 2006 and his five race deal does not conflict with any Champ Car events this season.
Tracy has made no secret of his desire to join the NASCAR ranks. He tested last year with Richard Childress Racing at Michigan and was preparing to make his NASCAR debut in a late season race. However, Childress cited a lack of time to properly prepare a car for Tracy and the fact that his driver, Kevin Harvick, was fighting to earn a spot in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.
Randy Lajoie, who drove the #34 car for Frank Cicci Racing last season, finished 19th in the Busch Grand National standings.