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November 24, 2008
Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (11/24)
*Bobby Hamilton Racing is shutting their doors at the end of the week. I can't say I'm surprised by this announcement given that the team had pre-existing sponsorship issues even before the economy went bad, were based outside of the Charlotte area which is a challenge for any team, there was a nasty family feud between Lori Hamilton and Bobby Hamilton, Jr. which led to Bobby, Jr. wanting nothing to do with his father's company, and Dodge pulled their support of the team. The organization might be able to survive one or two of those things but all of them together in combination with the poor economy makes it impossible for them to continue. Sad to see this happen to Bobby Hamilton's company that he worked so hard to build and that at one time had so much success. In some ways there's some parallels between what's happened at BHR and at DEI, but at least Teresa Earnhardt has taken steps to ensure that the company will continue via the merger with Chip Ganassi Racing.
*In other Truck Series news, Wyler Racing would like to field not only one truck next season, but two trucks - one for Jack Sprague and one for a young driver who Sprague would mentor. Unfortunately I suspect the chances of Wyler having any trucks next season probably isn't too good considering they're looking for a sponsor for Sprague and the young driver would need to bring sponsorship for him for the second truck. Maybe they'll end up fielding a truck for Sprague out of their own pocket but it's probably harder for them to do that than in the past given that the car dealerships that the Wyler family owns probably aren't doing so well right now.
*Chad McCumbee said that due to a lack of sponsorship he may not end up racing a Cup car full-time for Petty Enterprises next season as most were expecting he would. I have to wonder what's going on at PE. Right now they have two cars with minimal sponsorship, they've laid some people off and from what's been said it doesn't sound likely that either McCumbee or Kyle Petty is going to be racing all that much for them next season. So PE could end up being a one-car team next year with just Bobby Labonte, and I have to wonder if we'll even see that car on the track if they can't find sponsorship for it. Boston Ventures buying into the organization was supposed to make them so much better and give them so many more resources but that doesn't seem to be the case so far. I haven't heard of much, if anything, that Boston Ventures has done so far. There's been some speculation that what Boston Ventures really wanted when they bought PE was the Petty Racing Experience because that operation was extremely profitable and that they didn't really care about the Cup cars. Given the direction that things are going in as far as the Cup teams go, I'm starting to think there might be some truth to that. It's not just that they can't find sponsors for the cars, that's to be expected. It's also that they don't seem to have a clear plan for the future overall.
*Jayksi has an "I heard" item that Supercuts may not return to Fitz Motorsports next season. Based on recent comments by Armando Fitz it didn't sound too likely Fitz would be back in the Nationwide Series next season and losing Supercuts would likely be the final nail in the coffin for that operation. Given how many problems the organization has I really doubt they'd be able to find a replacement sponsor. It's always a shame when a Nationwide-only team closes their doors but this organization has been heading in this direction for quite some time.
*Looks like Brad Coleman may end up back with Joe Gibbs Racing, the organization he raced for in 2007. What a crazy ride for Coleman this season. He left his Nationwide ride thinking he had a Cup ride with Hall of Fame Racing, not only for this season but for next and only ended up racing one race for HoF before they went in another direction. I hope it works out for him with JGR. Even though it wouldn't be a full-time ride and it wouldn't be on the Cup level, it would be an opportunity to race competitively.
*Joe Nemechek is out of a ride after having his contract bought out by Furniture Row Racing but he will be racing next season. Based on what Joe said in an interview on XM last week he plans on reviving his Nationwide team and he's also looking at going truck racing. So he's definitely going to stay involved in Nascar. As for FRR, they hope to field a car part-time next season and are considering a variety of drivers including Michael McDowell. Apparently they're also talking with Sterling Marlin who I think is a better fit than McD. Marlin has shown a willingness to race part-time and doesn't seem to mind if the cars aren't the greatest on the track, whereas McD is still developing as a driver and would probably benefit from racing full-time.
Posted by silverdsl at November 24, 2008 02:58 PM