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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.
I started to think about this post a few weeks ago. At the time, Germain Racing, for the second season in a row, was threatening to shut down Todd Bodine’s #30 team for a lack of sponsorship. It was stunning to think the reigning series championship was about to be parked for a lack of sponsorship. The troubles at Germain though are nothing new for Series champions. Consider the following cases.
NASCAR veteran Ted Musgrave won the 2005 Truck Series championship driving for Jim Smith and Ultra Motorsports. The two had a long and fruitful run together including 16 wins, 12 poles and that one championship. Not long after winning in ’05 though the team closed the doors after losing support from Mopar and failing to get support from Ford.
Musgrave was lucky enough to find another ride with Germain for the following two seasons, but never matched his success with Ultra. He had a short stint with HT Motorsports before exiting the sport mid way through the 2008 season.
Ron Hornaday, Jr. won championships in 2007 and 2009 and has undoubtedly had a very successful run with Kevin Harvick Inc. and Dale Earnhardt Inc. before that. It was after Hornaday’s 2009 championship that his long time crew chief Rick Ren left KHI for the newly created Kyle Busch Motorsports.
Since then Hornaday has won just three races (compare that to six each in 2008 and 2009) and has just 17 top-fives (compare to 15 in 2009 and 14 in 2008) and 20 top-tens (compare to 20 in 2009 and 18 in 2008).
Certainly winning the championship hasn’t been devastating to Hornaday’s career, but the once dominant team is no more. Losing Rick Ren was nothing short of very bad luck.
The saddest case of all is Johnny Benson who won the 2008 Truck Series championship with Bill Davis Racing. Benson joined the team in 2004 and together they scored 14 wins, 50 top-fives and 72 top-tens. Benson though faced a fate similar to his contemporary Ted Musgrave when the team shut down shortly after the end of the season.
Tom Deloach and Red Horse Racing brought Benson on in 2009 but he made it just eight races before the team was shut down due to a lack of sponsorship. Just a week after that Benson was seriously injured in a SuperModified race.
It looked like Benson may have a chance to return in 2010 with Kyle Busch Motorsports, but sponsorship never materialized and Benson raced just a few times for various organizations.
That brings us back to Todd Bodine. He received a reversal of fortune after Randy Moss Motorsports, on its last legs but with a very lucrative sponsorship deal, agreed to a “partnership” with Germain to keep Bodine in a ride through the end of the season.
Is there a curse? Maybe not. But in the last six seasons at least, it’s undeniable that there are some strange instances of bad luck for the series’ championship winner.
When it came time this year during the annual media tour for NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France to address the gathered crowd at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, he made a very unfortunate flub – he called the Camping World Truck Series the “Craftsman World Truck Series”. This slip was, in hindsight, foreshadowing for a season that’s been a little forgettable so far.
It took four weeks for a series regular to win a race – which meant, for three weeks we had a points leader who had no wins. Between the top four drivers in the points, there are only four top-fives to go around. 357 of 647 total laps (about 55%) have been led by guys who can’t win the championship. And half the wins this season have come from Kyle Busch owned trucks (don’t worry, he’s only taken one of the wins).
The trouble this season hasn’t been fields dominated by Cup regulars, but a few good Cup regulars in great equipment. And they’ve all been good for the most part.
To their credit, the Thorsport trucks have been regular contenders (in fact Johnny Sauter became just the second non-Cup winner of the season along with Trevor Bayne – he’s the only one in the Nationwide and Truck Series). And we’ve seen some young talent show up out of nowhere – does the name Cole Whitt ring a bell?
Ron Hornaday Jr. has been back in old form, three top-tens in four races, and immediate past champion Todd Bodine is looking ok. Austin Dillon’s been competitive too.
The Randy Moss Motorsports trucks, or I’m sorry, truck, has been terrible with a new engine builder – a real disappointment with series vet and past champion Travis Kvapil. And the Turner Motorsports teams have been hit or miss. I still can’t believe James Buescher missed a race.
This series is always the most enjoyable to be around and watch. It’s been good to see some lesser funded teams actually competing this year. But lately it’s been lacking that tough trucks, tough racing mentality that always produces solid events.
All the above said, I’m optimistic the season will rebound. Hopefully that starts this weekend at Nashville.
The Chase heads west this week for a little racing action, California style. While we dream of surf and sun, here are more of our answers to your NASCAR questions. 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 Christa:
I don’t normally bash the race broadcast, but the coverage by ESPN on Sunday was HORRIBLE!! Cutting to commercial during green with 10 to go is inexcusable. My question is this, any chance NASCAR can pressure them to put on a decent show? Or do you think outcry from the fans is the only solution? I’ve already sent them an angry email to do my part, but I’d like to hear your thoughts. Thanks!
NASCAR can certainly put pressure on them to change things, but at the end of the day it’s ESPN’s call. I really hate to say this, and I’m not necessarily advocating it, but the best way to show ESPN you don’t like their product is to tune out (or DVR it). The emails and letters don’t hurt. They’re looking at it right now anyway thanks to the large ratings declines over the last three races. You aren’t alone in your feelings on this – if you ever check out The Daly Planet this has been a constant complaint from many viewers. In fact JD did a writeup on the ESPN ratings issue today. – Journo
2. From Jeanette:
Hi guys. Perhaps you can settle a discussion that took place while my boyfriend and I were watching qualifying recently. When a crew chief tells the driver after his lap “P-4″ or “P-whatever”, does the P stand for position? provisional?
Whoever said it stood for position is the winner. The crew chief, or spotter will tell the driver p whatever to let them know where they stand in qualifying, practice, or the race. – Journo
3. From Anonymous:
Hey guys, love the website! Keep doing what you’re doing! This may seem like a silly question but I often notice after a race that when pit reporters are doing postrace interviews, many times the drivers are already changed into street clothes. Are the drivers fast in the shower in addition to being fast on the track or do the TV producers ‘collapse time’ and make things look like they are happening quicker than they really are? Many thanks!
Thanks! No silly questions here. No time collapse, the drivers you see who have changed have enough time to go back to the hauler (generally they do it in the lounge) to change out of their firesuits. – Journo
4. From brian:
Years ago Petty put Wilson in the 44 car after he retired. He had to change the number back to #43 b/c the NASCAR rule was if you don’t use it you lose it. Why isn’t the same with the #3. It is always said Childress has the #, but if he isn’t using it why can’t someone else use it?
Technically, no team owns a number. NASCAR owns all the numbers and grants permission to the teams to use them. So really, if somebody wanted to use the number, they could petition NASCAR to get it. However, I think nobody asking to use it is more of a respect thing than anything else. – T.C.
5. From Michael in SoCal:
Hi guys. I just watched this week’s Whelen Southern Modified race on Versus and there was mention of Langley Speedway winner, Tim Brown, who was going to race at Tri-County Speedway. Jack Arute & Jimmy Spencer mentioned that Brown, who works for Michael Waltrip Racing, was called out to Phoenix by MWR for testing there. I thought testing was banned at any track where the top three series race? Any insight as to what this was all about? Thanks.
Just because he was called to Phoenix to do a test doesn’t necessarily mean they were at Phoenix International Raceway. I don’t recall any Goodyear tire tests there this season, so I doubt that’s where they went. I would imagine that the test was at the Toyota Proving Grounds in Wittman, AZ. The facility is about an hour and a half outside of Phoenix. – T.C.
6. From David:
With all the Nationwide series rookies getting the boot do you think that NASCAR needs to have contracts like the NFL or NBA???
You’ve got to feel for these guys, but the structure of NASCAR makes it difficult to have a labor union like you see in the NFL or the NBA. The drivers are independent contractors in NASCAR – they work individually for teams, who at the end of the day have no stake in the sport as a whole – which is quite different than other major American sports leagues where the owners make up the league. I think there is an argument to be made that these guys need more protections, but how exactly to do that I don’t know. – Journo
7. From Jon:
I have a few questions… but before I begin first I wanna say I love the blog, I’ve written in a few times and you guys always answer my questions! You guys do a 100x better job than NASCAR PR LOL. 1. I was looking at some old race results at racing-reference.info and noticed in ’95 and ’96, both races (when phx featured just 1 event) had 44 cars. why? when/how did nascar decide on the 43 car field # and what dictated the # before? 2. i’m pretty sure i’ve read this somewhere/heard it on a broadcast, but i’m not 100% sure. let’s say two guys tie at the end of the season w/ the same # of points. the driver with the most wins gets the better spot in the points, right? do they have tiebreakers to determine who takes the higher spot in points after wins (if they are still tied)? 3. why hasn’t nascar considered running more nationwide one-off events? if they want to get cup regulars out, woudln’t it make more sense to run the events in tandem with say a truck or arca or IRL event, at a venue where the cup series isn’t? if they did this more than just the 3 times a year (i think?) that they do this now, to say like, 9-10, wouldn’t it be way more likely a regular would win rather than a cup series regular? i’m just looking for slightly easier “fixes” for the Nationwide series, as opposed to some ridiculous idea of leaving Cup regulars out of the points championship.
For a much better explanation of why we have 43 car fields, and the situation you mention at Phoenix, check out this piece by Dave Rodman from the 2002 season. In regards to ties in the point system, the NASCAR rule book says that if two drivers are tied, the tie will be broken by which driver has the most first place finishes. If they are still tied, it then goes to second place finishes, third places finish, and so on and so forth. If a tie still remains after that, “the driver having the highest finishing position first during the current season prevails.” And to your question about more standalone events, I honestly have no idea. The Nationwide/Busch Series did used to run more events by itself, but over the course of the last decade or so, most of the schedule has been changed to run in conjunction with the Cup Series. It’s probably more about drawing more fans to the track and offering more entertainment for a weekend than anything else. – T.C.
8. From Craig:
Does NASCAR give directives to the broadcast teams about what to talk about or what not to criticize? Example, when it comes to 1.5 mile tracks, fans call them “cookie-cutters”, but I’ve seen broadcasters go out of their way to attack that term. I saw that again today with John Roberts on Speed saying “don’t call them cookie-cutters”. Is there some NASCAR PR campaign to defend 1.5 tracks, since they’re a focus of fan criticism?
If NASCAR hears something they don’t like they’re probably going to let the broadcast teams know, but there is no edict from on high telling the broadcast teams how to behave. I think more of what you’re seeing is the teams being hyper-vigilant about what they’re saying so as not to diminish the product that their employer is paying a lot of money to broadcast. With the way ratings are ESPN knows better than anyone they don’t need a negative narrative from their broadcast team. – Journo
9. From Robert:
If KBM closes, where do you think Rick Ren will go? No one in NASCAR, would let a crew chief like this go to waste.
It really depends on Rick Ren. I don’t know what his motivations are, or what type of position he would want (crew chief or director of competition like he is now), but I’m sure he could probably have any job in the Truck Series that he wanted. There would certainly be no shortage of teams beating down his door to get him. Don’t be so certain that KBM is closing next season though. Even if they don’t run every race, I wouldn’t be surprised if KBM still existed in some form next year. – T.C.
10. From Billy:
How does NASCAR’s approval process for new drivers work?
Drivers must submit a resume to NASCAR for consideration. Brett Bodine, who works as NASCAR’s Director of Cost Research makes most of the decisions about who gets approved for what. Usually, drivers must start out in a lower series on tracks a mile and under, then they will get approved for 1.5 to two mile tracks, and finally the superspeedways. It’s totally a judgement call on NASCAR’s part however – drivers like Juan Pablo Montoya and Danica Patrick were approved for bigger races much quicker because of their past experience. – T.C.
11. From Robert:
Any rumors or ideas as to what is going on at RCR in regards to a second truck team? Rumors had it for awhile that his other grandson, TY, would sit in a truck next season.
As far as we have heard, RCR is working toward having two Truck Series teams next season, one for Austin and one for Ty. It’s interesting to note though, that Ty won’t turn 18 in time to run Daytona. His birthday is February 27th, so he wouldn’t be able to make his series debut until the March 12th race at Darlington. – 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!
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.
When the Camping World Truck Series heads to Las Vegas this weekend, look for the entry list to be a little stronger. We are hearing that both rookie Johanna Long and Tayler Malsam will return to CWTS competition in the desert.
First, expect an announcement on Monday that Long will be driving a truck prepared by her family’s race team, Panhandle Motorsports. We’ve heard that her effort will be led by veteran crew chief Kevin “Cowboy” Starland, and that more races might be upcoming for Long and Panhandle for the 2010 season. If she qualifies, the Vegas race will mark Long’s fourth start of the season. In her previous three truck starts (for Billy Ballew Motorsports) coming at O’Reilly Raceway Park, Nashville Superspeedway, and Chicagoland Speedway, Long has scored two top 20 finishes. Besides racing trucks, Long has spent the season making various latemodel starts at tracks in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama, and has two USAR ProCup starts.
Malsam, who has been racing in the Nationwide Series since being released by Kyle Busch Motorsports early in the season, will return to the Truck Series in an entry fielded by Randy Moss Motorsports. Malsam competed for RMM for the entire 2009 season before moving on to KBM for 2010. Expect veteran crew chief Doug Wolcott to call the shots for Malsam’s team at LVMS. Malsam ran the first seven truck races of the season for KBM before his team was shut down due to lack of funding. The young driver from Washington was then given an opportunity to run for Braun Racing in the Nationwide Series and has since made 11 starts with a best finish of 11th. No word on if any more truck races are planned for Malsam.
Moving forward, it’s always good to see new teams and young drivers getting a chance to make their mark in the sport. Both of these drivers have a ton of potential, and adding competitive teams to entry lists is always a good thing.
As always, keep it locked to TheNASCARInsiders.com for rumors, insight, and inside information from the world of NASCAR that you won’t find anywhere else.
If what Kyle Busch told Bob Pockrass is true, it sounds like the answer is yes.
In an article Thursday on SceneDaily.com Busch said if sponsorship doesn’t materialize for his Truck Series team for the 2011 season, he would have to shut it down. It’s quite a turn around from the beginning of the season when KBM was supposed to run two full time teams, and possibly a third part time, out of a new state-of-the art shop in Mooresville.
When Busch started up his team, no expense was spared in putting together a top flight organization. He hired championship winning crew chief Rick Ren away from Kevin Harvick Inc. to lead his effort as Director of Competition, and brought in veteran crew chief Eric Phillips to call the shots from the pit box. Busch also opened up his wallet to build a modern 60,000 sq ft race shop to house his new operation. And then the problems began.
When it was announced that Miccosukee would not be sponsoring Busch’s team for the 2010 season like they initially thought, the countdown started. It was only a few short months later that KBM’s second team with Tayler Malsam was shut down due to lack of funding. And without Miccosukee, KBM has been left stringing together as many one off sponsorship deals as they can find to get the #18 team through the season.
It’s interesting to note that through all of this, the team has been able to have a great deal of success. Through 18 races this season, the team has amassed four poles, four wins, and sits only 82 points out of the lead in the owners points.
Knowing the little bit that I do about the situation, I’ve got to wonder how Busch’s business people allowed this team to be mismanaged as it appears it was. With all of the resources that were available to him (like boss Joe Gibbs) one would think that some better decisions would have been made along the way. I also have to think that the issues surrounding KBM probably helped lead to the demise of Busch and agent/spotter Jeff Dickerson’s relationship.
Besides JGR, if Kyle needed a good example of how to start and run a team the right way, he needed to look no further then fellow Cup and Truck driver Kevin Harvick and his operation. Harvick started small, running partial Truck schedules in 2002 and 2003 before going full time with Matt Crafton in 2004. When he started his NNS program, Harvick again started small, running only a few races in 2004 before having a full time team in 2005. And in most cases, Harvick was only putting out cars and trucks that were sponsored. Today, KHI not only has a successful CWTS and NNS program, but they also build chassis and hang bodies for other teams, which provides much needed revenue to keep the doors open and the lights on. There is no reason why KBM, if run properly, couldn’t have turned into the Toyota version of KHI.
Hopefully the combination of Busch’s star power and the continued success of his team will lead to a full time sponsor. It would certainly be a shame to lose another team, especially one so young in it’s existence.
Spin (verb): to cause to have a particular bias; influence in a certain direction
For those of you unfamiliar with the term or it’s usage, I’ll tell you it’s generally considered a pejorative – though not all spin is bad or unethical. In NASCAR, some have a tendency to use spin when confronting difficult issues. It’s not always an effective or advisable tool.
I’m not sure what was in the water these last couple of weeks, but the NASCAR team PR spin machines were in full force – more so than usual. From the laughable, to the cringe-worthy, they definitely ran the gamut.
That Was Kind of Low KBM
“Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) is designed to give up-and-coming drivers a chance to advance through the ladder system of NASCAR’s top-three national touring divisions. Thus far, its mission has been accomplished as KBM officials announced that Tayler Malsam will depart the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team to accept a ride in the NASCAR Nationwide Series driving the No. 10 Braun Racing Toyota” – Kyle Busch Motorsports/True Speed Communications
Kyle Busch is in over his head and losing a lot of money. He forces, or receives an opportunity to save money by shutting down the #56 team. You’re part of his PR team, what do you do?
A. Tell the truth – put out a press release saying the team is shutting down and Tayler Malsam is moving on
B. Color the truth – use it as an opportunity to tout you’re record for advancing young drivers
C. None of the above
If you chose answer B, congratulations! You’re on your way to becoming a spin doctor!
For the dozen plus guys who no longer have a job, I’m sure it was comforting to their wives and family members that they helped a young driver advance. Something tells me it was little consolation.
This was the cringe-worthy release of the week. There is just one line in the entire release saying the #56 will be shut down – no discussion of the ramifications, nothing. Not unethical, but far from appropriate. Unfortunately, the collateral damage (the laid off employees) in this whole thing was completely over looked.
A Unified Effort? Or an Effort to ‘Extenze’ Conway’s Cup Run?
“Using a unified approach to give its three-car team the best opportunities to continue to succeed as a whole, Front Row Motorsports announced changes to its NASCAR Sprint Cup Series line-up effective this week for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway… The changes are aimed to optimize all three teams’ ability to score more points and strengthen the organization.” – Front Row Motorsports/Breaking Limits PR
I was trying to think of something more clever, but I figured I better keep it PG. This was actually one of the better spin jobs of the week.
I think at this point just about everyone knows what Front Row is doing – rotating their drivers numbers to keep all their cars in the top-35. The truth of the matter is they’re rotating everyone through so Kevin Conway doesn’t have to qualify.
Can we call it a unifed effort? Absolutely, and frankly it’s a nice way to look at things. Though I know Travis Kvapil wasn’t thrilled with the move and I can’t imagine David Gilliland is excited to get to the track every weekend knowing he has to qualify on time, the move seems to have worked.
The team was able to bump Robby Gordon out last week, and Conway has been able to stay out of the very precarious position of having to qualify his way in. It’s good he has sponsor money on his side.
Frye’s Last Stand
“Current circumstances presented the opportunity, and Red Bull Racing Team acted Tuesday with an experimental approach, swapping crew chiefs and support personnel for this weekend’s Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway and beyond.” – Red Bull Racing Team PR
The way they’re pushing this one, I think they’re trying to convince themselves more than they’re trying to convince the rest of us.
Let’s be honest, things have not been going well at Red Bull. In fact they’ve been going so not well I wrote on the subject just a day before the team announced these changes.
As much as they want to say they’re just experimenting (which they certainly are), what I see is Jay Frye’s last stand to keep his job. He’s responsible for what that organization looks like and he’s soon going to have to answer to the powers that be in Austria.
This looks to me like a spin job that had to happen. Unfortunately this makes it appear as if they were a weak team from the get go. The original release quotes Jay Frye as saying, “Due to the circumstances of our current situation, we have an opportunity to experiment with different personnel combinations.”
Vickers was certainly a big loss, but he’s just one guy. Apparently without Vickers, the season is a complete loss for the whole team. It’s a head scratcher. Red Bull’s a two car team that doesn’t seem to have much faith in their second team (or rather driver I guess).
This one is definitely going to be one to follow as the season progresses.
The Charlotte Observer’s Jim Utter reported earlier in the week about the potential exit of Miccosukee from NASCAR. The Florida Indian Tribe was set to sponsor a truck for Kyle Busch Motorsports and Nationwide and Cup Series teams for Phoenix Racing.
For Kyle Busch Motorsports, the potential move by the tribe would certainly cause headaches. In their first year of NASCAR competition having a sponsor pull out this close to the start of the season is nothing short of irritating. That said they can sustain and have said they will run the season regardless of what the tribe decides to do.
For the other team caught in what could be a bad situation, things are a little more dire.
Miccosukee entered NASCAR with James Finch’s Phoenix Racing and Geoff Bodine in 2002. In recent years the tribe’s sponsorship has been vital to Phoenix’s operation.
With that sponsorship and hard work they managed to have a good 2009. Through several drivers they performed pretty well in the Nationwide Series, including a win at Charlotte, and they scored their first and only Cup win and some solid finishes with Brad Keselowski.
In 2010 the team is planning to run the #09 Cup car with Aric Almirola and a full-time Nationwide schedule with James Buescher. Those plans though are now likely in flux.
For James Finch and Phoenix Racing, and for that matter Aric Almirola and James Buescher, this really is very unfortunate should it come to fruition. Sure Finch has done some starting and parking in the Cup Series, but when he’s been able to, the teams have run.
As with most things, money makes the world go round. That’s especially true in NASCAR. While there is a chance if funding falls through the teams will continue (I suspect Buescher may continue), this puts them at a severe disadvantage with little time to find a replacement.
Hopefully for the sake of Phoenix Racing and all of its employees and drivers everything works out.
Rolex 24 at Daytona
We’re still about a week away from NASCAR taking the track at Daytona, but that doesn’t mean you can’t see racing sooner. The 24 Hours at Daytona starts Saturday and I know I for one can’t wait.
The 24 hour sports car race features drivers from a wide spectrum of the North American racing community. Drivers like Dario Franchitti, AJ Allmendinger, Max Angelelli, and of course Jimmie Johnson among many others will compete head-to-head in the endurance race.
Despite a field that normally spreads out pretty far, last season the event had it’s closest ever finish with the #68 Brumos Porsche team just edging out the #01 Ganassi team. Not far behind on the same lap was the other Brumos Porsche team and the Suntrust Racing team. Not too bad after 24 hours.
This year will be interesting. The Suntrust Team of Angelelli / Lamy / Taylor / Taylor are on the pole with the Michael Shank and Ganassi teams in the next four positions. Ganassi will definitely be a wild card after switching to BMW in the off-season. Check out full qualifying results here.
The racing kicks off at 3 p.m. EST on Speed and continues beginning at 7 a.m. on Speed Sunday. Check it out!