Elliott to drive McDonald's Dodge in California.

Bill Elliott, who is running a limited schedule in the Nextel Cup Series, will be at California Speedway this weekend, competing in the Sony HD 500.

The NASCAR legend will be in familiar colours, driving the #91 McDonald's Dodge Charger that is part of the Evernham Motorsports stable.

The California event will be Elliott's eighth Nextel Cup race of the season and his second with McDonald's as the primary sponsor. McDonald's was Elliott's main sponsor for six years when he owned and drove the Golden Arches entry from 1995-2000.

"It always feels good to put on the McDonald's uniform and see that big arch on the hood of the car," said Elliott, who drove the McDonald's car in the June Michigan race. "California is the kind of track that suits us pretty well. We've had some good qualifying and race runs there in the past. I'm looking to have a solid finish on Sunday."

Elliott is right about his past performances on the two-mile oval that hosted its first NASCAR Cup race in June of 1997. He enjoyed consecutive fourth-place finishes at California Speedway at the 2002 and 2003 races while driving full time for Evernham Motorsports. At last year's Labour Day weekend race, Elliott qualified the McDonald's Dodge third.

Being that California is a sister track to Michigan where Elliott has enjoyed plenty of success in his career, the former NASCAR Cup champion and 44-time race winner, should feel right at home at California Speedway.

"We know what's needed at California and just have to get it done," said Elliott, who finished 11th at Michigan two weeks ago. "I like the two-mile tracks and am looking forward to both a strong qualifying and race effort in the McDonald's Dodge."

Elliott competed in the Nextel Cup race at California Speedway in February and would like to erase that event from his memory. He got tangled up early in the race and was forced to retire from the event after hitting the wall on Lap 23 of 250. He was credited with a 43rd-place finish.

"It was just one of those deals," said Elliott. "I got in the wall early with Ricky [Rudd] over on the backside. Then we had a tyre go flat getting into turn one. I hated that our day ended so early. Hopefully, we will have a major reversal this weekend."