The national economy has claimed its first victim of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, and if the current lack of fulltime sponsorship deals around the garage area doesn’t reverse soon, a number of stock car drivers, crew members and front-office people will be looking for work.
David Gilliland became the first driver of the 2009 season to lose his ride when it was announced that he and team owner Doug Yates would be unable to lock down a sponsorship deal for the No 38 Sprint Cup car.
“David did a great job for us and is a gifted driver. We are sorry to lose him, but it is important for David to continue driving, and sponsorship is very tough this year,” Yates said in a press release announcing the split.
Gilliland, who has been with Yates Racing since the middle of the 2006 season, holds no ill feelings toward his former owner, and showed only remorse that he could not hold onto his ride for the entire season.
“The folks at Yates Racing treated me very fairly and I appreciate that,” Gilliland said in a prepared statement. “Yates is a great organization, and I am sorry to leave. But I need to move on and pursue other opportunities for my Sprint Cup career.”
It was also reported earlier this week that a number of race teams are in danger of not being able to field teams for the entire season due to lack of primary and/or associate sponsorship deals.
The Roanoke Times reported that the economy his hitting Richard Petty Motorsports, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing and even Roush Fenway Racing to some extent this year.
According to the article, three RPM teams are in danger of not being able to enter a portion of the races this season if they don’t lock down some sort of sponsorship deal.
Those in danger include AJ Allmendinger, Reed Sorenson and Kasey Kahne, according to the report.
According to the report, Kahne has his primary sponsorship locked up but is in need of a major associate sponsorship, while both Allmendinger and Sorenson are in need of a primary sponsorship.
The same is apparently true over at EGR, when Aric Almirola and his No. 8 team only has a sponsorship in place for the first 10 races of the season and Martin Truex Jr. needs to add a sponsor for six races, according to the Roanoke Times story.
Things may not be quite as bad over at Roush Fenway, according to the report, as all five race teams have primary sponsors for the 2009 season in place. But each of those sponsors is apparently looking to partner with any companies looking to get into the sponsorship game.
STREAK ENDS
Coming into last Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway, it was a safe bet that Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 Pennzoil Chevrolet would be on the track at the end of the race.
In fact, it was pretty much certain — until Sunday, that is.
Harvick snapped his streak of 81 consecutive races without a DNF when his engine went, ending his day early for the first time in years.
Harvick’s 81-race total is a modern era (1972-present) record, according to the racing site Jayski.com, second only to all-time leader Herman Beam, who finished 84 consecutive races between April 30, 1961 and March 10, 1963.
Harvick also held the previous modern day era record of 58, which he set between Oct. 3, 2002 and Aug. 1, 2004.
Clint Bowyer now holds the current streak of 75 consecutive finishes.
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Rank…Driver…Points…Behind
1.…Matt Kenseth…385…---
2.…Jeff Gordon…304…81
3.…Kurt Busch…294…91
4.…Tony Stewart…294…91
5.…Greg Biffle…268…117
6.…Clint Bowyer…266…119
7.…Michael Waltrip…264…121
8.…David Ragan…262…123
9.…Carl Edwards…260…125
10.…Juan Pablo Montoya…256…129
11.…Elliott Sadler…248…137
12.…David Reutimann…248…137
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