As part of the merger with Yates Racing Richard Petty Motorsports will race Fords next year in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
While there is understandable elation in the Ford Motor Co. camp about getting NASCAR icon Richard Petty back under the Blue Oval banner, the news is less good for Sprint Cup crew members.
This year, Richard Petty Motorsports fielded four full-time cars and Yates Racing campaigned one of its own and a contract car through Hall of Fame Racing. Roush Fenway Racing, the lead Ford outfit, ran five full-time Cup cars.
Put those three organizations together, and they campaigned a total of 11 full-time Sprint Cup cars this season.
Yates, which has a relationship with Roush Fenway Racing, was expected to pick up the fifth Roush car next year, when NASCAR requires that team to cut down to four teams. But with Yates merging with RPM, it can’t absorb a Roush Fenway car into its mix.
Next year Roush Fenway and RPM will field eight cars, four each for RPM and Roush. While it’s possible Hall of Fame could align itself with a different team in 2010, it’s still a net reduction of at least two less cars in the Sprint Cup garage.
And with at least two and perhaps three cars going away next year, that means a probable reduction of at least 150 more jobs in the Sprint Cup off season, after as many as 1,200 Sprint Cup jobs were lost last winter.
What the “merger” does is help two teams with sponsor shortages stay afloat. Yates had one confirmed sponsor for 2010 — the Menards hardware chain owned by driver Paul Menard’s father. RPM, according to multiple sources close to the team, had enough sponsorship for two-and-a-half cars.
Together, they can run four cars with less expense they could running them separately. Once merged, RPM and Yates will need only one shop, one engine program, one receptionist, etc.
And economics is what dictates mergers in NASCAR these days, which is why two wildly different and fiercely independent people like Teresa Earnhardt and Chip Ganassi became partners for the 2009 season.
