Purvis ponders future after Gibbs ride disappears
By Marty Smith, Turner Sports Interactive
July 23, 2001
2:15 PM EDT (1815 GMT)
MADISON, Ill. -- For race car drivers, the major relief of joining an established program is job security. Or so Jeff Purvis thought.
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Jeff Purvis
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Purvis, 42, entered his second season at Joe Gibbs Racing with aspirations of a legitimate run at his first career NASCAR Busch Series championship, and after 17 races, he was actually well on his way to his best points finish ever.
Then, totally out of the blue, he was hit with heartbreaking news, news so disheartening that he has yet to recover from it.
“They called me on Monday morning (June 17th) and just started the discussion by saying they had some bad news,” Purvis said this weekend from the Carquest 250 at Gateway. “We had come from Kentucky and I had a good car. We had a really good car and the team had some momentum going and everybody was excited. Then they pulled the rug out from under us. I didn’t see it coming.”
According to Purvis, a Joe Gibbs Racing representative called and explained to Purvis that -- due to lack of funding for the team’s two cars -- the No. 18 Busch Series team would be discontinued, effective immediately. This was quite a surprise to Purvis, who was more established at Gibbs than his counterpart Mike McLaughlin, who was brought in at the outset of the year to drive Gibbs second car, the unsponsored No. 20 Pontiac.
The No. 20 team was never able to procure a sponsor willing to back McLaughlin’s ride full time, so something had to give. That something, according to Purvis, was the No. 18 program.
“I guess it’s a business decision he (Gibbs) had to make,” Purvis said. “He knew what it was going to cost at the first of the year and he promised Mike he’d run that car all year long no matter what. I guess he’s going to, but at our expense on the 18 car.
“Like I said, that’s something (Gibbs) has to deal with. I’ve done a lot of things in my life, and when I give you my word, you can count on it. You don’t need a piece of paper. That doesn’t seem to be the same for him.”
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Joe Gibbs owns both the No. 18 and No. 20 Busch Series cars.
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J.D. Gibbs, Joe Gibbs Racing Vice President and son of car owner Joe Gibbs, explained to NASCAR.com Monday that the team conceivably could have continued operation for some seven or eight more races, and admitted that the team did not inform either driver that they might be in jeopardy of losing their job until the aforementioned phone call.
But, in the end, rather than risk having to lay off the entire No. 18 team, Gibbs opted to discontinue running two cars. By doing so, Joe Gibbs Racing was able to retain the entire No. 18 team, except Purvis. In order to maintain the identity of sponsor MBNA, McLaughlin now runs the No. 18 machine.
“There’s some stuff there that I’m probably not going to get into, but for the most part it was a situation where (McLaughlin’s) guys and the (No. 20) team was where we needed to go,” J.D. Gibbs said. “Jeff got the bad end of the deal, but the guys, (crew chief) Doug Richert, we love Richert. The guys all get to stay, except for Jeff.”
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Mike McLaughlin moved over to the No. 18 after Purvis' dismissal.
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Gibbs said Purvis was given the option to remain with the team as they continued to search for potential sponsorship, with hopes of landing a sponsor and returning the team to the track. However, asking that a racer to sit idle is like asking a heroin addict to quit cold turkey. Withdrawal symptoms will eat them alive.
“I’m not a good spectator, and I know you’re supposed to go through (the garage) and campaign through the pits and do that whole deal, but I’m not real good at that,” Purvis said.
Before the decision to close the doors on the 18 car, Purvis was enjoying one of his finest seasons ever. In the season’s first 17 races, he had posted seven top-10s, including a near-miss at California where Hank Parker Jr. held him off for the victory in a nail-biting fuel-mileage war. Furthermore, he was seventh in the championship points chase. His career-best finish is sixth.
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Mike McLaughlin is fifth in points.
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During the same stretch, McLaughlin had also posted seven top-10s, including a pair of top-5s and a win at Talladega. He ranked fifth in the points. Both teams were obviously legit, but in this game. it’s all about money.
“It seems really odd to me. They went to Mike (McLaughlin) and asked Mike to get out of the 48 car to come over there and go racing with them, and they basically gave him their word and they really hated to (shut down his team),” Purvis said. “I’m sure they hated to shut this team down, and if they’d have had sponsorship I’m sure it wouldn’t have been a question, but as far as I’m concerned they should have never taken on the second team until they had the sponsorship.”
The season started off rough for the Joe Gibbs Racing Busch Series program. Porter Cable Tools decided to leave Purvis’ team, where they had served as sponsor in 2000, and driver Jason Leffler jumped ship to pursue Winston Cup dreams with Chip Ganassi Racing.
Therefore, Purvis took over Leffler’s No. 18 car with sponsor MBNA and McLaughlin was brought in to drive the sponsorless No. 20.
Did they get in over their head?
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Joe Gibbs
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“For our end it was an awful situation,” Gibbs said. “We had the MBNA sponsorship for the entire year, and we just told the other guys we’re gonna go as hard as we can as long as we can and we really figured somewhere during the year we’d find another sponsor for that car.
“We were running fifth in the points with Mike and having a great season so we really never gave a second thought about finding a sponsor for his car. As it turns out, we never did.
“We kept putting it off week after week after week making a decision and finally said hey, we’ve got to do something here. And Jeff, he got the bad end of the deal.”
Purvis still doesn’t know what to make of the deal, but for now, he’s taking solace in the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing ride he’ll pilot in Mike Skinner’s absence. While plenty excited about the opportunity to drive such a potent machine, he’s still quite bitter at losing his former ride.
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For now, Jeff Purvis is filling in for the injured Mike Skinner on the No. 21 RCR Chevrolet.
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“There’s still some issues out there that Joe really has to settle with me," Purvis said. "I really can’t say a whole lot about it, I’m not gonna sit here and bash Joe Gibbs. He knows that he gave me his word and a contract and neither one of those seemed to have been any good.
“It really was good (at Joe Gibbs Racing). As at any racing organization, there’s one or two there that you don’t like dealing with, but 99 percent of the people there are great people, great teammates. But that one or two percent can pretty much ruin a whole team.
“I never had one minute’s problem with Joe, J.D., or any of them. Hopefully we can get things resolved to where I won’t feel any more bitter than I do. But there’s still some things that have to be resolved before I can even move on.”
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