Elliott enjoys part-time duty

Former champion is trying to keep the Wood Brothers entry among top 35 cars

ATLANTA -- Two weeks ago, at Lowe's Motor Speedway near Charlotte, Bill Elliott returned to the track for the first time after a four-week layoff. He looked fresh and relaxed, and his very presence seemed to lift his entire race team.

"That man brightens up this place just by walking in," said Eddie Wood, co-owner of the No. 21 Ford that Elliott has driven 16 times this season in an effort to keep his old friends afloat in the roiling waters that are the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series.

It takes a lot to get a smile these days on the lower end of the Nextel Cup garage. With more teams showing up every week than there are starting spots, small teams such as the Woods' one-car operation are struggling to survive. Elliott has been a blessing to them, not just because of his considerable skills but also because he has a past champion's provisional starting spot that puts the No. 21 in the starting field even when he comes up short in qualifying.

"When I first agreed to do this, I didn't realize we were going to do as many races as we're doing," Elliott said. "But it was great to get a four-week break. I got to do a lot of different things."

When Elliott finished the Sept. 8 race at Richmond International Raceway, the team was 35th in owner points, so he turned the car over to Ken Schrader, who ran four races before slipping back out of the guaranteed group.

Elliott said he really enjoyed his break.

"It was good to get up on Monday morning and not have to worry about going to the race track or any of the stuff that that involves," he said. "I still enjoy racing. At Pocono, we got to running halfway decent and running halfway competitively, and I really enjoyed it."

He said that even at age 52, he has been able to find the stamina to run 500 miles.

"That part's been better than what I thought," he said. "Bristol was a good test, but I came out of there in good shape. California worked on me because it was so hot."

Elliott said he's actually holding up better behind the wheel than he did in 2003, when he was still racing full-time. He has since determined that the medicine he was taking for high cholesterol was sapping his strength.

"I was taking that stuff to get my cholesterol down, and I got to feeling bad," he said. "I thought I was just getting older, but when I got off that stuff, I got to feeling better."

While many in the sport figure he would have won another championship if he had stayed in Ray Evernham's No. 9 Dodge instead of yielding the seat to Kasey Kahne, Elliott said things worked out OK.

"Looking back, I'd like to have stuck it out for a couple more years," he said. "But I got to spend a lot of time with my family, and that's been more important than anything else. ...

''I don't miss the pressure every week, and I don't like being on the road every week. Over the years, that's what really burned me out."

One thing on Elliott's mind these days is figuring out how to make his final exit from NASCAR competition.

''I've got to think through that," he said. ''I still have some time to think about how I'm going to do that.

"One side of you says, 'I don't want to all the way give it up,' but the flip side says, 'You have to.' "