Mach 1 to close.

The William Edwards owned Mach 1 Motorsports team has given up its struggle to remain on the Nextel Cup grid according to a story on U.S. based NASCAR website www.jayski.com

According to the Jayski article the team will be auctioning off its remaining equipment later this month after qualifying for just ten races in 2005.

The auction signals the end of Mach 1's two year involvement in NASCAR's highest echelon, during which time the team qualified for a total of 36 races with nearly a dozen drivers including Todd Bodine, Geoffrey Bodine, Randy LaJoie and Derrike Cope.

The team were the first to bring Lucas Oil into NASCAR as a primary sponsor during their debut season in 2004 when they ran with the #96 plate and qualified for all but ten races. However a switch to the #34 plate for 2005 and the loss of Lucas Oil backing saw the team stumble, failing to capitalise on the experience gained in race conditions during the 2004 season.

Geoffrey Bodine's 28th place finish at Pocono in June 2004 remains the team's best Nextel Cup finish.