New ownership group enters NASCAR with David Stremme as driver

David Stremme’s start-and-parking days are over, according to the new owner of his race team.

Stremme has been driving a No. 30 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car for Inception Motorsports – a team he partially owned – for the last two seasons. But it was announced Tuesday morning that Inception has been sold to oil company CEO Brandon Davis, and Stremme will drive a fully-funded car next year.

The team will be known as Swan Racing (Davis’ oil company is Swan Energy Inc.) and is “here to race competitively every week,” Davis said in a press release.

“I have spent a lot of time with Brandon this year and I can tell you he is here to win,” Stremme said in a statement. “I have never been so excited for a new season as I am for 2013. I’m ready to get started now.”

Stremme qualified for 28 races last season and failed to make six others, but was forced to start-and-park in 20 of the events he entered. His best finish of the season was 24th at Indianapolis.

Now, though, he figures to have his best shot at running competitively since his first two seasons, when he started his career with Chip Ganassi Racing.

Swan will get its Toyota engines from Triad and will have Steve Hmiel as its competition director. Hmiel was most recently the competition director at Ganassi.

“This is a great opportunity to build a team from the ground up,” Hmiel said in a statement. “Brandon is completely committed to winning; he has a long-term vision. I am excited to be part of it.”

The team won’t have to worry about sponsorship because Swan Energy will be the primary sponsor on the car each week. Davis, the 33-year-old owner, has a racing background and currently drives a dirt modified car.

Stremme was out of the country Tuesday and unavailable for further comment.