Team Owner Joe Falk Set For NASCAR Return

Hermie Sadler will race in Sunday’s “Goody’s Fast Relief 500” at Martinsville Speedway, driving a No. 33 Chevrolet fielded – officially – by Richard Childress Racing. The Virginia native has confirmed, however, that the No. 33 team will soon belong to former Sprint Cup Series owner Joe Falk, who will make his return to the sport in two weeks at Texas Motor Speedway.

Hermie Sadler

“I had been talking to Richard about driving the No. 33 at some point this year,” said Sadler on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio’s Sirius XM Speedway. “And in the last week to 10 days, Richard made a deal with Joe Falk… to purchase the team and its (owner) points. Joe is a big NASCAR fan who has done pretty well in the car business. A lot of people know him, he’s been around the sport forever."

Sadler called this week’s entry “a collaborative effort” between RCR and Falk, as part of a transition that will see Falk assume ownership of the car at Texas Motor Speedway on April 14.

“This is technically an RCR effort this week,” he said. “It’s an older Richard Childress car with a Childress engine under the hood.  Richard entered the car this weekend because of (NASCAR rules concerning) entry blanks and when they have to be submitted. After they filed the entry, conversations began between him and Joe about making the transition official in time for Texas.”

Falk, the 1976 Winston Racing Series Track Champion at Virginia’s Langley Speedway, owned the LJ Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team from 1997 to 2000. He fielded the #91 SPAM-sponsored Chevrolet for driver Mike Wallace for the 1997 season, and his cars were also driven by Steve Grissom, Kevin Lepage, Todd Bodine, Ted Musgrave, Dick Trickle, Ron Hornaday and Morgan Shepherd. Bodine earned the team’s best finish; a fifth-place result at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1998.

Falk fielded the SPAM car for Mike Wallace in `97

Falk was listed as co-owner of the Hillman Racing No. 40 Toyota that Michael Waltrip attempted to qualify for this year’s Daytona 500, and sources say the No. 33 entry may be housed at the Hillman Racing shop in Mooresville, NC. Hillman Racing also fields the #27 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chevrolet that veteran Ward Burton drove to an eighth-place finish in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. Burton’s son, Jeb, is driving the truck this weekend here at Martinsville.

“Joe Falk comes from a racing family,” said Sadler. “He’s been around the garage for years, and I’m excited to have an opportunity to drive for him. He’s helped a lot of different drivers and teams in Cup, Nationwide, Trucks, Late Models… you name it.  His plan now is to keep the No. 33 car on the race track and try to build it into a competitive race team, with support from Richard Childress.  I’m hoping to have the opportunity to maybe drive a couple more races for him later this year.

“A lot of things had to come together, and a lot of people had to cooperate with each other (to make this happen),” he said. “The end result is that I’ve got an opportunity to drive a Sprint Cup car at Martinsville, and I’m going to try and make the best of it.”

Calls placed to Falk and Hillman Racing owner Mike Hillman, Sr., in search of comment were not immediately returned.