NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: Chevy Boss Happy To Keep EGR
Jamie McMurray has had a big season for EGR...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted November 07, 2010   Fort Worth, TX
Chevrolet's NASCAR presence includes partnering with Jamie McMurray and the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Now that it has emerged from bankruptcy and the federal bailout, the future is looking much brighter for General Motors and its leading brand, Chevrolet.

Each year, Chevrolet puts tens of millions of dollars into its NASCAR operation, ostensibly with the goal of selling more passenger cars. In the short term, that requires being competitive on the track.

This year, Chevrolet has won its eighth consecutive manufacturers’ championship and 34th overall in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. And the GM NASCAR program got some good news recently with the decision by Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates to remain with Chevrolet next year.

EGR had been heavily courted by Ford Motor Co., which is in need of another frontline team because next year Richard Petty Motorsports — if it even survives — will shrink from a four-car team to a two-car outfit. Ford was looking for another top team to fortify its lineup beyond Roush Fenway Racing, the flagship Ford team.

Keeping EGR in the Chevy camp was a big victory, said Jim Campbell, GM U.S. Vice President Performance Vehicles and Motorsports.

“What I really like about the way we’re structured is we have what we call key partners,” said Campbell, who is the point man for GM’s domestic racing operations. “We have four major teams — the Hendrick organization, Stewart-Haas, Childress and Earnhardt-Ganassi. It’s very positive that the Earnhardt-Ganassi organization decided to stay with us.”

As a team, EGR has won seven poles and four races this season, with Jamie McMurray capturing both the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400, NASCAR’s two biggest races. Campbell said those results were proof of GM’s success.

“The approach we use at Chevrolet, it works,” Campbell said. “The key teams are highly competitive with one another, but on common issues, we really orchestrate, along with the key team members, collaboration to solve issues that are common to all of us. That works. I’m telling you, that works. Our history shows it.”

Heading into today’s AAA Texas 500, Chevrolets have won 18 Sprint Cup races this season, vs. 11 for Toyota and two each for Dodge and Ford.

“I’m very positive that Chip and the team decided to stay with us and continue to be one of those key teams,” Campbell said. “The key partner approach works.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.

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