Wood continues family tradition

Few of NASCAR’s hot young drivers have a racing pedigree to equal that of Jon Wood.

Wood, who will turn 25 Wednesday, is the grandson of Glen Wood, founder of the Wood Brothers race team, one of the pioneer teams in NASCAR.

The team, with an all-star lineup of drivers over the years, including David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Marvin Panch, Tiny Lund, Fred Lorenzen, Neil Bonnett, Buddy Baker and many others, has won 96 races since 1953.

Jon’s father, Eddie, is now co-owner of the team that, under his father and uncle Leonard Wood, also is credited with turning pit stops from a relatively leisurely endeavor into the current 15-second art form.

But the Wood Brothers haven’t had much success in recent years. The only victory in the last 12 seasons came in 2001 with Elliott Sadler behind the wheel. Even being competitive often has been a struggle of late for the one-car team battling multicar outfits such as Roush Racing and Hendrick Motorsports.

Eddie Wood hopes to change all that, with the help of his son.

The Woods formed an alliance last year with Tad Geschickter’s JTG racing, moved its headquarters from the tiny mountain town of Stuart, Va., to the Charlotte, N.C., suburb of Harrisburg and a sprawling, modern race shop. The team plans to field its traditional No. 21 entry in Nextel Cup, as well as two Busch Series cars and two entries in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2007.

More important, Jon Wood will share the Wood Brothers/JTG Racing No. 21 Ford with the current driver, veteran Kenny Schrader.

The idea is for Wood, currently racing full-time in the Busch Series, to serve an apprenticeship in Cup that eventually will lead to a second team entry in that series.

That’s a big load on the shoulders of a youngster who has two NASCAR wins, both in the truck series in 2003.

“First and foremost, it’s like the time has finally arrived and I’ve been given the opportunity that has been, I guess, a mere fantasy for many, many years,” Jon Wood said. “Circumstances will allow me to drive my family’s Cup car in selected races. It is a pretty big deal when you think about it.

“There are 43 full-time men that compete at this level in the nation, the world, for that matter. It’s not like NFL. It’s not like NBA. I mean, you’ve got hundreds of players. This is just a select 43, and I guess that is just overwhelming to think about. And, by the same token, it is a very intense position to be in.”

Wood has known since he first began racing go-karts at age 12 that his destiny was likely to be in the 21.

“I just take it as it is,” he said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity.”

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For just the second time this season, rookie Clint Bowyer will race only his Nextel Cup car this weekend. Until Talladega two weeks ago, Bowyer had competed in either Busch Series or Craftsman Truck Series races that were either companion events with the weekend’s Cup race or in non-companion events at other tracks throughout the nation.

Bowyer skipped the inaugural truck race at Talladega to concentrate on that week’s Cup event. He also passed up Saturday’s truck race at Martinsville.

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Chevrolet has won six of the last seven races at Martinsville. The last victory there by a Dodge was by Rusty Wallace in the 2004 spring race. Ford has not won at Martinsville since the October 2002 event, with Kurt Busch at the wheel.

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Martinsville Speedway has been Jeff Gordon’s personal playground. In 27 races on the half-mile oval heading into this weekend, the four-time Cup champion has five poles, seven victories, 15 top fives and 21 top-10 finishes and has led 2,041 laps, all either leading or tied for the lead among active Cup drivers. Gordon also has never failed to finish a race at Martinsville.