“Boston Ventures will provide growth capital to support Petty Enterprises and leverage and further expand the Petty brand,” Zucker said when the deal was announced. “The Petty-Boston Ventures partnership will work together to enhance all aspects of the company, including expanding the racing team over several years, investing in personnel, testing and technology to upgrade the race teams.”

But the collapse of the U.S. banking industry and the subsequent loss of marketing dollars from Fortune 500 corporations has had a devastating impact on NASCAR with PE one of many teams hard hit.

NASCAR officials have said they were cognizant of the economic conditions but won’t change their business model to assist teams.

“The idea that we can wave a safety net or have a safety net for everybody that is in our industry, I wish we could, but it’s just not practical,” NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France said last month at Phoenix International Raceway.

In recent weeks, PE released Labonte from his contract and has discussed a merger with Gillett Evernham Motorsports. It is expected that GEM will announce next week that it will run a fourth car carrying the No. 43 next season, but neither team would confirm that.

Prior to the final race of the 2008 Sprint Cup season, Richard Petty admitted he was worried about the team’s prospects. “I’m concerned about Richard Petty’s future,” Petty said last month. “It starts here. And Petty Enterprises’ future and everybody’s future. Because right now, has everything bottomed? We don’t know how far down we’ll go. We’re all in this together, whether we like it or not. Racing’s not going to survive without the economy surviving or vice-versa.”

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel

EDITOR'S NOTE: Megan Englehart contributed to this article. Edited by Steve Keller.

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to


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