By Josh Stewart on Dec 04, 2008
While Dale Earnhardt Jr. has struggled to find sponsorship for his JR Motorsports Nationwwide Series program, television ratings have spiked for the soon-to-be Camping World Truck Series. Between the Truck Series gaining in exposure and being cheaper, wouldn’t that be a good target for the future of JR Motorsports?
“Well, not necessarily,” Junior answered. “The Truck Series is very interesting and would be fun. But it would be expensive to begin from anew. Not having a Truck chassis, or any of the components that the Truck Series runs different from the Nationwide car. But, it would depend on the sponsor. If Chevrolet came and pushed us in that direction, and we had a sponsor willing, that would be just as exciting and we would be able to accomplish basically the same amount exposure-wise as we do from the [Nationwide Series].
By Josh Stewart on Dec 04, 2008
“It wasn’t that long ago that I wanted to be a car owner, as recently as five years ago I wanted that,” Knaus said Thursday. “Whether or not I want that now, we’ll just have to wait and see. Obviously, the situation would have to be ideal. But I know what we’ve got at Hendrick Motorsports, and to think that I could go out and start a team and race against the driver lineup and the brain power that they’ve got and the resources they’ve got at Hendrick Motorsports is just foolish at this point.”
By Auto Racing Daily on Dec 04, 2008
Many papers are scaling back their (NASCAR) coverage. What are your plans for New York Times coverage next year?
>>We have no plans to scale back our coverage. In fact, the issues you mentioned make the sport especially interesting right now. We’ll be eager to explore how reduced advertising budgets affect Nascar (and all sports), whether fans continue to pack the seats at Nascar’s big venues and how all of these issues play out in communities where auto racing is so prominent. We also want to find out if Jimmie Johnson is ready to let someone else take a turn at winning the Cup title.
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on Nov 23, 2008
Yesterday Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama joined the chorus of southern Senators and other Republican congressional members who are not behind a bailout for the U.S. automotive industry. Why? Toyota, Mercedes, Hyundai, and other foreign auto makers have concentrated their U.S. factories in the lower-wage southern states. It must be frustrating for NASCAR to watch their Southern Republican politicians, a group coddled by NASCAR for many years, so directly support a policy position that will affectively destroy the domestic US auto industry and have a profound impact on NASCAR.
The winds of change are blowing in American motorsport in many, many ways.
By Auto Racing Daily Editor on Nov 02, 2008
NASCAR’s leadership has always been respected for making good business decisions and all their moves seemed to always be the right ones – who could argue with near constant growth of sponsors, venues, TV numbers, and fans. But the 2009 NASCAR season might just test the true business acumen of those at the helm of the NASCAR ship because, for the first time in many years, the stars are not aligned in NASCAR’s favor. The sport had already, though recently, stopped growing and, in the coming months, there is a good chance that multiple pieces of the US financial system that directly affect NASCAR’s bottom line are all going to unwind at the same time. The “everything we touch turns to gold” days are over and with such limited choices the best way forward might just be the only way forward.
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