DODGE DITCHES DAVIS RACING; Bill Davis Racing got itself in a pickle with Dodge, supposedly because it inked a deal with Toyota.

On the track, Bill Davis Racing hasn't made much noise in 2003. Its two-Dodge lineup of Ward Burton and Kenny Wallace has no poles, no wins, no top-fives and only three top-10s in 26 combined starts. Burton is 25th in points and Wallace is 28th after 13 of 36 Winston Cup races. Off the track, though, BDR is making more noise than it wants.

Shortly before the May 25 Coca-Cola 600, Bill Davis was told his team was losing its technical and financial deal with Dodge. He hasn't spoken of the matter publicly, and Dodge executives will say only that he was booted from the club because of a "material breech of agreement.'' It likely means Davis has a deal with Toyota, though the level of Davis' involvement with the Japanese automaker remains unclear.

It's no secret that Toyota is recruiting Cup, Busch and Craftsman teams for next year's start-up truck program, a notion Toyota denies. "There really aren't any negotiations going on,'' said Toyota vp Lee White. "We have no finalized or even negotiative-level goings-on with any teams. We're still collect-ing info and holding discussions with a lot of interested parties. I don't think we really expect that to boil down to the final 10 or 12 until July. The program has been predicated with trying to be associated with six trucks [in the Craftsman Series]; whether that's three teams with two trucks or six teams with one truck hasn't been decided.''

Most NASCAR watchers figure the Japanese automaker will spend three to five years in the Craftsman Series before moving to Cup. They point out that Dodge spent five years in Craftsman before going Cup racing in 2001. It seems unlikely-but not out of the question-that Toyota will have it any easier.

The firing means Davis must now buy the parts and pieces that once came free from the factory. He must now buy wind tunnel time... if he can find any affordable and available time. And he's out of Dodge's technical loop that shares information among its teams. Some have estimated the financial hit at $2 million; others have said $1.4 million to $1.5 million. Either way, Toyota could (or perhaps it already has?) cover the tab.

The phrase heard most often around the Davis haulers at Dover was, "No comment.'' John Fernandez, head of Dodge Motorsports, said he'd prefer Davis explain what brought on the action. (There's talk of a Davis statement by Pocono.) "That's between Bill Davis and us,'' Fernandez said. "It's up to him whether he wants to share it. We don't talk about contractual matters with our teams.''

Fernandez cut the cord during a visit with Davis in Arkansas on May 22. "Bill wasn't able to meet with us in Detroit, so I flew to him,'' he said. "We had a very good [business] relationship and a good personal relationship, so I felt I needed to do it face to face. It wasn't something I wanted to do through written documentation or over the phone.