Randy Wrenn/Herald Sports Writer

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With only one month until the official opening of the 2006 NASCAR season, many teams started making changes and preparing for the new year.

The silly season - when drivers, owners and teams start making changes for the following season - started well before midseason in 2005. Some teams' and drivers' plans are still up in the air as is the case for the 2005 Craftsman Truck series champion Ted Musgrave, but Emporia, Va. drivers Hermie and Elliott Sadler appear to be set and ready.

Friday, Ultra Motorsports team owner Jim Smith decided to shut down his operation leaving Musgrave job hunting. Musgrave stated, “There's never really a good time to get a pink slip, but with the truck series less than a week away from testing at Daytona and five weeks from the season opener, most teams already have drivers in place for 2006. In my defense at least I've won the championship and have a champion's provisional to make every race,” he added.

Though nothing official has been announced, sources are that Emporia, Va. native Hermie Sadler will run a limited Nextel Cup schedule in 2006. Sadler has raced a full time limited schedule in both Busch and Nextel Cup series over the years. Sources say Sadler will carry the Aaron's 499 colors once again, this time in the Aaron's Dream Machine in a partnership with Michael Waltrip Racing. Sadler, driving the No. 66 for PEAK Fitness last May at Talledaga, carried the Aaron's colors with a last minute one race sponsorship deal.

An official announcement was made by Sadler recently that The United Wrestling Federation (UWF), co-owned by him self in partnership with TNA Wrestling, will launch its 2006 “Buckle Up” Tour next weekend in his hometown of Emporia, Va. at Greensville High School. Of the tour's 32 events scheduled by the UWF, several of them coincide with NASCAR weekends, giving fans the opportunity to see big-time professional wrestling while in town for race weekends, including an April 1 show in Martinsville and a May 25 show at Lake Norman High School in Mooresville, N.C. The UWF will give discounts to NASCAR members and fans who have purchased tickets to races.

For more information on events and tickets, visit www.uwfusa.com and can be purchased locally at Affordable Heating and AC on 508 W. 8th. Street in Roanoke Rapids.

Sadler's younger brother, Elliott, returns to pilot the Robert Yates Racing No. 38 M &M's Ford, but starts the season with a new crew chief. Former Evernham Motorsports crew chief Tommy Baldwin, Jr. takes over the job for the 2006 Chase for the Championship.