Richard Childress is not sure about the future of his four teams in NASCAR. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
With corporate sponsorship still an issue in NASCAR and General Motors and Chrysler both bankrupt, the makeup of the Sprint Cup garage likely will be quite a bit different in 2010, as teams adjust to the new economic realities.
Team owner Richard Childress, for example, expanded to four cars for the first time this season. But with sponsor Jack Daniel’s expected to leave after this year, there’s no guarantee that Richard Childress Racing will be four cars next season.
Asked Friday at Infineon Raceway if he planned to field four Sprint Cup cars in 2010, Childress was noncommittal. “Right now we do. Who knows what will happen?” said the team owner. “There are a lot of things moving forward, you know? I look around the garage and there's some of the press and some of the other companies that were in here that's made other cutbacks, too. We've all just got to adjust for these times and racing is no different. All the different companies that you look around (and see) so many of them are making adjustments and we've all got to do that. We will survive and we're in the greatest country in the world and we will survive this.”
Translation: If the sponsorship is there, RCR will run four cars. If not, it won’t.
Even the powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports squad, the most successful team in NASCAR isn’t immune. After Hendrick driver Mark Martin won his third race of the season last Sunday at Michigan, team owner Rick Hendrick said his squad would be juggling sponsors next season.
“We have got a lot of things in the works, and our sponsors are coming back. We don't know to what extent,” said Hendrick, whose teams have won eight Sprint Cup championships since 1995. “That's the question. As you go along with this economy, companies are taking longer to get their budgets in line. They're not a year out, or not even eight months like they have been in the past. We're in good shape. We have a lot of sponsors inside our company that we're talking to about, you know, splitting up the car. So I look for the guys that are on it to be back, but there will probably be someone new along there with them.”
