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Shortly after the end of Saturday night’s Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland Speedway, a group of race team employees found themselves suddenly unemployed and without a way to get home to Charlotte.  It was a sad example of what sometimes happens at the many “we don’t offer a 401K” race teams.  In the era of the start-and-park, it seems as though anybody can own a race team and sometimes that’s not a good thing.

The plight of driver Tim Andrews and the now ex-employees of 2nd Chance Motorsports was first made known via Andrews’ Twitter account (@Tim_Andrews_) early Sunday morning.  The ladies over at Skirts and Scuffs followed up and got the full story later on Sunday.  From their post, here’s what went down in a nut shell:

After loading up the car into the team hauler Crew Chief Kevin Eagle informed Russell that he would be parting ways with 2nd Chance once they got back to the Charlotte area. Upon hearing the news Russell accused the whole team of leaving and instead of allowing Eagle to explain that he would be the only one leaving the team Russell fired everyone associated with the No. 79, including it’s driver Tim Andrews.

Russell followed the terminations up by telling all involved that they would need to find their own way home and that he would not allow them into the team’s van to collect their personal effects.  Nothing like adding a little insult to injury.

After local police got involved the guys were later allowed to get their things, and with help from some other teams, get home to Charlotte.  Thank god there are still plenty of really good people in racing.

If the name Rick Russell sounds familiar to you, it should.  You might remember that he was the owner involved in the infamous Jennifer Jo Cobb incident earlier in the season at Bristol.  The two parted ways literally minutes before the NNS race because Cobb refused to start-and-park.  Andrews joined the team a short time later.

Situations like these with unscrupulous owners are nothing new in NASCAR.  There are plenty of examples over the years of drivers and crew members getting burned by shady owners and fly-by-the-night operations.  We’ve even documented a few on this website.

It’s certainly a shame, but with so much money surrounding the sport, it’s bound to happen.  Short fields have made the barrier to entry much smaller, and in some cases that’s not good.  We feel good and love to talk about independents like Tommy Baldwin Racing when they have success, but we don’t often hear about all those hurt by bad deals and teams gone wrong.

I must say that I don’t know a lot more about this particular story than what has been reported online.  Russell may have a very different view of the way things went down.  In any case though, I’m not sure how you justify stranding a group of people, of whom you had just previously called employees, nearly 800 miles from home.  Hopefully all of those involved will land on their feet.

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With big announcements flying this week, the teams are getting geared up to head for Bristol for a little short track Saturday night action.  Don’t forget, the Truck Series races tonight at the ”World’s Fastest Half Mile.”   If you don’t know what this post is, we answer any and all reader questions every Wednesday, right here.  So if you’ve got one, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send one to us.  On to the questions…

1. From Michael in SoCal:

Following up on Franq’s question from last week about using the road course at Indy for the Cup Series race, what about using one of the road courses at Pocono? If the Cup Series is going there twice within a span of about seven weeks, it might be a nice change of pace, Your site is a daily read! Thanks.

Thanks Micheal! The Pocono road course is nowhere near ready to handle a NASCAR race – as we saw a couple of weeks ago the main track isn’t either. Even if Pocono were interested in upgrading their road course, I still don’t think NASCAR is all that interested in adding road courses to the schedule. I do agree though seven or eight weeks is a little ridiculous between races, and any change would be welcome. – Journo

2. From Dan:

Hey guys I know you all remain anonymous but what I wonder about is how you get info (outside the technical stuff) without raising suspicions. The answer you gave last week ( Ask the Insiders #87) about the Target sponsorship and the deal they have with EGR/ CGR I would think would be only privy to those associated with that team. Of course that’s not to say you all couldn’t find out. But couldn’t someone connect the dots after seeing an answer to a question? Like hey I was asked that last week by so and so. Hope what I’m saying makes sense. Anyway just curious.

Well we would never ask someone a question that appears on the site for the exact reason you suggest. If we ever don’t know an answer to a question or can’t easily find out through inconspicuous means we’ll tell you we don’t know. As far as last week’s question goes, Ganassi’s program is very well known to those who are familiar with sponsorship in the sport. On top of those at the team that are familiar with the program you’ve got to consider all the people connected with those individual sponsorship deals that are also familiar with it – literally hundreds of people currently and formerly associated with the team and sponsors. – Journo

3. From red8814:

I understand that Sadler’s helmet, seat & HANS were all scheduled to be scanned for fractures following his wreck at Pocono. If a driver is in a far less severe, “moderate” wreck that takes him to infield care b/c the car won’t start up, is there any automatic review of his safety equipment, including the belts/harness?

Not that I am aware of.  All over the rule book in the section about safety gear, it is repeated that the drivers are responsible for their own safety equipment and it’s proper usage.  NASCAR is in no way responsible for any of it. – T.C.

4. From Michael in SoCal:

Any thoughts on why Robby Gordon put PJ Jones in the # 7 and moved himself into the # 07 last week at Michigan? Thanks.

Robby put PJ in the #7 car because he knew they would be guaranteed to start the race (PJ qualified 41st) – he knew he would be much better positioned to get into the race on speed (he qualifed 35th). And then they both start-and-parked – the double start-and-park, always a classy move. – Journo

5. From Ryan:

T.C.-After reading that Casey Mears will take over the Germain #13 car starting at Atlanta and full-time next year, I’m wondering how well do you think he will do?

I wouldn’t expect much from this move.  While Mears is certainly more experienced than Papis, his performances certainly haven’t been stellar over his career.  Let’s remember that this is the same Mears who struggled at Ganassi, Hendrick, Childress, and Red Bull.  He certainly won’t resurrect his career in an underfunded Cup car for Germain Racing. – T.C.

6. From Denny:

Have been reading a blog which mentions something about Reuti running a non-approved intake supplied by TRD on the engine which won at Chicago. Even one of the announcers stated Reuti showed-up with a different intake for this race. How could they possibly get away with this, with all of the inspections going on, both before and after the race in Chicago. Also, reading that NASCAR will be testing engines after MIS. Does anyone, other than NASCAR officials get to view the actual testing? Will these be a real dyno test…..on a stand-type engine dyno or just a chassis dyno? Thanks for the great info, as always!

Honestly, I don’t know anything about this.  If it’s actually true, both MWR and TRD have done a remarkable job keeping it quiet.  NASCAR’s inspection process is certainly extensive, and if any other team caught any wind of this, it would have been reported to NASCAR immediately.  That fact alone makes me question the validity of what you’ve read.  And after Michigan, NASCAR did take 16 engines from various teams.  Since they only took the engines, the dyno tests will be done on a standard dyno, not a chassis dyno.  Don’t expect NASCAR to make the results public unless a drastic rule change comes about because of the tests. – T.C.

7. From Allen:

Why doesn’t NASCAR consider doing the “side by side” coverage, commercials on the right and the race on the left? If IndyCar can pull it off we can.

It’s all got to do with the way the advertising is structured within NASCAR’s TV deals, and I’ll be honest I really don’t know all the specifics. It’s feasible, we’ve seen them do it with the Coke Zero 400 on TNT, but I don’t know that NASCAR and their broadcast partners are all that interested in doing it. Here is an article from 2006 that answers some of your questions. – Journo

8. From Justin:

I know questions about payouts have been asked before, but none of it really makes sense. Just a few examples from Michigan. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 19th $86,050, David Gilliland 36th $86,148. Brad Keselowski 34th $98, 535, Sam Hornish Jr 32nd $79,950. Clint Bowyer 13th $89,975, Jeff Burton 24th $111,565. The payouts don’t make any sense. Why would one team apart of the same organization take part in different contingency programs? What contingency program could David Gilliland be a part of that Dale Jr isn’t?

It’s not all about what contingency programs a team is involved in.  The reason some drivers make more then others depends on what contingency programs a team is involved in AND in what payout plan a team is in.  I believe NASCAR has four different plans setup, and each team fits into one of those plans.  I don’t know specific details, but the plans award prize money based on not only where you finish, but also past performance and longevity. – T.C.

9. From Newracefan:

I heard several times on Nascar Now about the HMS cars not having speed. I know when I listened to the 48 scanner Sunday on more than one occasion JJ was sayong the car was good but Chad was saying it he wasn’t fast enough. Is there something to this?

It is certainly possible for a car to have a good balance with the chassis setup, but just not be very fast.  I’m just speculating, but maybe they were missing something aerodynamically, or they were possibly down on horsepower a bit.  Let’s not forget that Johnson still finished 12th, so it must not have been that bad. – T.C.

10. From Lost in Texas:

With Kahne and Ambrose settled for next year, does this make Sadler the top free agent on the market for this year and who is the top ride that will be looking for a driver?

Well, unless a team does something drastic, or a team like Gibbs finally starts a fourth team, there aren’t really any open rides left.  If Scott Speed and/or Brian Vickers don’t return to Red Bull, there might be an opening there, but that’s about it.  Besides that, RPM is realistically the only team left with openings.  Childress, Hendrick, Roush, Gibbs, Stewart Haas, MWR, EGR, and Penske are all full up for 2011.  So I guess you could make the argument that Sadler is the top free agent driver, but without any openings, I’m not sure that means much. – T.C.

And that brings yet another “Ask The Insiders Wednesday” to a close.  Thanks to everyone who sent in questions.  And remember, if you’d like to be a part of next week, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send your question in!

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