NOTEBOOK \ NASCAR

Another change: Michael Waltrip again juggled his roles as team owner and driver Saturday, replacing David Reutimann for next weekend’s race at Infineon Raceway. P.J. Jones will drive on the road course while Reutimann will concentrate on the Busch Series race in Milwaukee. Reutimann is fourth in the Busch standings. Reutimann, who is 43rd in the Cup standings, is not assured a spot in the field and Waltrip believed Jones had a better chance of qualifying the car. Earlier this week, Waltrip said he would step out of his own car to let Terry Labonte race it at Sonoma.

Courting Kyle: Kevin Harvick isn’t interested in having Kyle Busch as a teammate. Asked if he could envision Busch at Richard Childress Racing, Harvick said “No” without elaborating. That doesn’t mean car owner Richard Childress isn’t interested in the 22-year-old Busch. “Anybody would look at Kyle right now — any team in here,” Childress said. “Kyle’s a really talented young driver and I just think he’d be the future of any team that he went to.” Childress has a history of working with untamed drivers — and Harvick was one himself during the early part of his Cup career. And in the case of Busch, he thinks the driver may be being judged unfairly. “You have to remember, at his age, I can name you eight or 10 guys in here at his age that were a handful,” Childress said.

Numbers game: Dale Earnhardt Jr. has made a plea to keep the No. 8 when he leaves Dale Earnhardt Inc. at the end of the season. His grandfather, Ralph, raced under the No. 8 and Junior has used it since entering the Cup series in 1999. But Dale Earnhardt Inc. holds the rights to the number, which is leased each season from NASCAR. He’s yet to formally ask his stepmother, Teresa, to relinquish the number and wasn’t sure he has a realistic chance of obtaining it.

Associated Press