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ESPN.com reports that Michael Waltrip Racing will announce Friday that Mark Martin will drive for the team part-time next season, replacing David Reutimann in the No. 00 car. ESPN.com also reports that team owner Michael Waltrip likely will drive in all or a portion of the four 2012 restrictor-plate races.

Michael Waltrip Racing has a news conference scheduled for Friday at Texas Motor Speedway.

Reutimann is 28th in the driver standings with two top-10 finishes in 33 starts heading into this weekend's race at Texas Motor Speedway. Reutimann has been with Michael Waltrip Racing since 2007. He has two wins, 12 top-five finishes and 25 top-10 finishes in 168 starts for the team.

Clint Bowyer will leave Richard Childress Racing after this season to join Waltrip's team next season. Martin Truex Jr. will return to MWR.

DRIVER TALK: Jimmie Johnson said he talked with Brian Vickers on Monday, a day after questioning the Thomasville driver's involvement in the final caution during Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Martinsville Speedway.

Vickers was involved in a wreck when Matt Kenseth turned him 40 laps from the finish. Vickers later ran into the back of Kenseth's car and spun to draw the final caution. That bunched the field and gave Tony Stewart the chance to get by Johnson for the win.

"Certainly disappointed about that last caution," Johnson said. "We had a nice, big lead. That stuff happens. It's short-track racing. Brian clearly was upset and frustrated. I don't know all the details on what went on with he and (Kenseth), but at the end of the day I've been involved in situations where I retaliated. Once the dust settles and the emotions kind of go down, you understand that Brian and Matt had a thing going on and Brian wanted to leave the race track with the situation resolved.

"I understand that. I respect that as well. I've been in that situation myself. When I look at what happened, sure, I lost a large lead at that point, but I still had a chance to go race for the win and I got beat by (Stewart)."

PIT STOPS: ESPN reports that its telecast of Sunday's Cup race at Martinsville drew a 3.6 rating up from last year's race, which drew a 2.8 rating. ESPN also reports that Sunday's race averaged 4.9 million viewers. ... NASCAR announced a fuel-injection test Nov. 15 at Daytona. That's in addition to the Jan. 12-14 test there.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com