Blaney out, Bowyer in at RCR.

Richard Childress has confirmed that Dave Blaney will leave the #07 Jack Daniels sponsored Chevrolet at the end of the current season with RCR's current Busch Series prot?g? Clint Bowyer graduating to the #07 in 2006.

The 26 year-old Bowyer, who is currently in second place in the Busch Series standings in RCR's #2 entry, will follow current Busch leader Martin Truex Jr into the Nextel Cup full-time next year after just one full season in NASCAR's secondary series and a singleton race win.

In addition, Bowyer is stepping into a ride that has the potential to be one of the most popular on the Nextel Cup tour, as evidenced by the rate that #07 and Jack Daniels merchandise has flown off the shelves at virtually every Nextel Cup outlet around.

However RCR's fledgling #07 team has not shown the results to match its popularity in the hands of veteran driver Blaney, who joined the team full-time at the start of the year when previous sponsors AOL left and the team changed from the #30 plate to the #07. In 30 starts so far in 2005, Blaney has scored just one top ten finish so far, that coming all the way back in Atlanta in March and while the popular and talented former Bill Davis and Jasper Motorsports driver has suffered some of the worst luck in the entire Nextel Cup garage, the presence of such a high profile sponsor dictated a change.

With six races remaining in the 2005 season, including Saturday's UAW-GM Quality 500 at the Lowe's Motor Speedway, Blaney and the #07 team are 31st in the Nextel Cup standings.

For their part, the sponsor has seen enough of NASCAR to know that it wants more, signing up for a further four years on the hood of the #07, giving Bowyer ample time to establish himself as a future star.

During his rookie Nextel Cup season; Bowyer will also attempt to complete a full slate of Busch Series races with RCR's #2 team.