Menard to run full Nationwide schedule

Roush Fenway will field four full-time teams in the 2010 Nationwide Series — including a #98 Ford for Paul Menard, who races for Richard Petty Motorsports in the Cup Series — and RFR president Geoff Smith said Wednesday that the stable sold has more than 75% of the sponsorship of its eight-car fleet in NASCAR's two top national series. Menard will run his first complete schedule since 2006, when he finished sixth in the championship for the second consecutive season before stepping into the Cup Series full time. That car is fully sponsored by the Menards home improvement store chain and a variety of partners. Smith said RFR's other three Nationwide programs had varying sponsorship gaps. Former series champion Carl Edwards will again compete full time in both Cup and Nationwide, running a #60 Ford sponsored by Fastenal and Copart in the secondary series. Smith said Edwards' car has "four open races." Colin Braun and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will run full schedules as rookie of the year candidates in the #16 and #6 cars. Braun's car has 18 races with Con-way Freight and two more with 3M, leaving 15 of the series' 35 races unsponsored. Stenhouse has 18 races with CitiFinancial backing, leaving "the remainder for sale," Smith said. Biffle is part of a previously announced deal to run a partial Nationwide schedule for Baker Curb Racing, but "at this point in time David Ragan, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle are not doing Nationwide races with us."(NASCAR.com)