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We got another stark reminder last week about how a weak economy and soft sponsorship market are affecting NASCAR teams. UPS announced they would be moving from full primary sponsorship at Roush Fenway to one race as a primary sponsor with a full season as an associate sponsorship. Ouch.

The move likely means just three teams for RFR in 2011 – and David Ragan out of his ride. Add to their woes the closure of Kevin Harvick Inc., possible downsizing at Turner and Germain, less than full sponsorship for Matt Kenseth and Clint Bowyer and you have a tough market for teams and drivers.

That is, if you’re a driver without money behind you. If you have sponsorship, or dollars to throw around, the world is truly your oyster.

Nelson Piquet, who’s losing his ride at KHI at the end of the year has been on the hunt and talking to multiple potential suitors. He told WSB Radio:

“It’s down to Turner [Motorsports], Penske [Racing], Kyle Busch [Motorsports], and Eddie Sharp [Racing]… Maybe a little bit less Eddie, because he doesn’t have [a] Nationwide [team] and we are planning on doing part of the Nationwide Series next year.”

Not a bad group of teams to be deciding from – especially since they’re courting him, not the other way around. Piquet, a former Renault F1 driver – involved in a 2009 scandal – came to NASCAR in 2010. The driver has quickly acclimated, scoring three top-tens in five starts during the 2010 Truck Season and four top-fives and eight top-tens so far this season.

Piquet is a good prospect. Even better, he brings money with him. Truly a win-win for any team.

Consider too Brendan Gaughan, the son and grandson of legendary Las Vegas casino owners. The Gaughan’s have a lot of money and just like Piquet, Brendan’s pretty good.

According to internet reports Gaughan has been in negotiations for a ride with Richard Childress Racing. The team is competing for a championship in the truck series and will have a renewed Nationwide Series program next season. RCR has, of course, made recent forays into the pay-to-play side of NASCAR with Paul Menard, Tim George Jr., John Wes Townley and Joey Coulter, so this isn’t completely surprising. This potential deal gives Gaughan his best opportunity for success since he left Penske years ago.

It’s truly a buyers market right now. If you can bring money to the table and you have signs of talent (and in the case of some drivers a personality that can be managed) where you end up is up to you.

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The economy still stinks. Sponsorship is scarce. And racing is expensive.

These are all lessons Kyle Busch is learning first hand in what has become his ill-timed foray into NASCAR team ownership. And boy did he let us all know how tough it was standing in his shoes this weekend.

“It’s hard to get anything and there really is nobody coming into it… It’s hard to sell. Right now, just going through all that, learning how to run the team, learning how to run the business has been stressful and strenuous and very impacting on my pocketbook as well… If we don’t find a sponsor for next year, I’m going to have shut it down. I’m not going to be able to do anything. That’s very unfortunate because I love all the guys working for me.”

I can’t blame Kyle for this – I can’t imagine the amount of money he’s spent on this effort. I don’t hear anybody faulting the guy for not committing to run a race team out of his pocket – it’s a very expensive thing to do – but I don’t understand the point of this ‘poor me’ game.

While this line of talk certainly draws attention and makes everyone aware of the situation, I’m not sure it’s the kind of attention someone in this situation wants or needs. The fact is, the takeaway from the press conference was that Kyle could very well shut down his operation. Chances are a good portion of the coverage is going to be less than positive or productive. Not what a team struggling to find a foothold wants potential sponsors to read on the front pages of the sport’s most popular websites and publications.

If this tactic is to attract sponsorship, this is not the right track to take. Companies want to sponsor stable teams – this is not the sign of a stable team.

Germain worked this for a while last season, and it was marginally successful. They were able to put together some small, one-off deals, but nothing sustainable. The caveat with Germain is the amount of media attention they got with their ‘plight.’ It was a constant source of conversation during Truck race broadcasts and in the other forms of media surrounding the series, and meant that those companies doing one-off deals got all the media they could handle.

The issue with KBM though is that they aren’t looking for small, one-off deals, they’re looking for long term, high-dollar sponsorships – sponsorships that run in the $1 million+ range. These aren’t easy to come by in the current environment as Kyle continued to point out:

“The series is, as we all know, is a lower-budgeted series, but there’s a lot of guys struggling to find funding… I know a couple guys out there that put sponsors on their trucks for almost a whole year for $250,000, $300,000. That’s flooding the market. That’s just killing the Truck Series. You can’t do that. They’ve gotta get something.”

I’m not sure a whole lot can be done on NASCAR’s part – it really takes a commitment from those selling the sponsorships not to undercut and erode the entire market – but I agree with Kyle and I know some of you that there are real issues with funding in the series. What can be done about that, I don’t know.

That said, I’m not sure complaining or feeling sorry for oneself is the way to find  appropriate sponsorship. It makes those doing the complaining look desperate and petty – a stench no one wants associated with their operation.

I’m not sure if this is posturing, or a shot across the bow, but I can tell you I’d be a little nervous if I worked over at KBM.

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This year has been a particularly brutal one for car counts in the Camping World Truck Series. While there usually is a full field, many teams choose to start and park. Looking at 2010 though things are looking up for the truck series.

Richard Childress Racing is expected to field at least one team in 2010 for team owner Richard Childress’ grandson Austin Dillon. The last time RCR fielded a full time truck series team was 1999. There have also been rumblings that Tim George Jr. will drive a second truck for RCR. As the original championship team in the series, it is exciting to see RCR make a return.

Newcomer organization Turner Motorsports (they will make their debut this weekend) also has plans to run one full time and one part time team in 2010. Ricky Carmichael has said he will jump from Kevin Harvick Inc. to the team to run the full season. In addition to running the #1 car in the Nationwide Series, James Buescher is also expected to run at least 19 races for the team.

And then there’s Kyle Busch Racing (or whatever it’ll be called). While nothing has been announced they are rumored to be running at least two teams in 2010. We’ve heard they might also field a third part time truck for Kyle. With some of the talent they are rumored to be bringing in, this team could be a force very quickly.

In addition to the above teams, Mario Gosselin has said he will run the full 2010 schedule with sponsorship from MyTireMonkey.com. Gosselin’s a two time USAR Pro Cup Champion. This year’s ARCA Re/Max champion Justin Lofton has also said he will go truck racing full time next season with primary sponsorship from his father’s cattle company.It’s uncertain where he’ll end up.

Most existing organizations while not necessarily locked up for 2010, are expected to maintain their truck counts. Just to name a few, Randy Moss Motorsports has said they will be back with Mike Skinner in 2010 and they hope to continue fielding a second truck. Kevin Harvick Inc. has said they will return next season with one full time and one part time truck. And Thorsport has re-signed Johnny Sauter for 2010 and will return with Matt Crafton as well.

Uncertainty does still remain with a few regulars though. Wyler Racing needs to find sponsorship to run the full 2010 schedule; something Stacy Compton says they’re still $500,000 short of. Circle Bar, which will lose James Buescher this year, may be down to just one team next season if a funded driver is not found. At Red Horse Racing the number of teams also looks heavily dependent on sponsorship. Team owner Tom DeLoach has said Timothy Peters will be back though.

Obviously the loss of Roush Fenway is difficult for the series. 2010 will be the first time since its’ inception that Roush won’t compete. Their scaled back efforts this season though made the loss, less difficult to deal with.

Perhaps this post is coming a little too early because there are still quite a few guys who don’t have anything locked up yet, but I’m optimistic 2010 will be a strong year for the series. With ratings up and competition consistently good, I’m looking forward to next season.

Rick Ren Leaving KHI?

We’ve been hearing quite regularly for the last few weeks that crew chief Rick Ren will leave Kevin Harvick Inc. at the end of the season. He’s rumored to be heading to Kyle Busch’s new team to serve in a general manager type role.

As we first reported in July Kyle Busch is expected to start a team fielding two or more Camping World Truck Series teams and possibly a Nationwide Series team in 2010.

Rick Ren joined KHI in 2007 after a stint with Johnny Benson at the now defunct Bill Davis Racing. Since joining the team, he and Ron Hornaday Jr. have racked up 16 wins and one championship (a second looks inevitable this season). He has more than 30 years experience in NASCAR.