Smack: More changes in store at Ganassi Racing? (cont'd)

3. Are BAM Racing's sponsorship woes indicative of the economic situation as a whole? Is this a sign of things to come for smaller teams?

Joe Menzer: All you have to do to answer that question is look at what happened to Petty Enterprises. They lost their General Mills sponsorship and, well, I hope they have something else lined up, but who knows? And that's Petty Enterprises, fellas. The most storied organization in NASCAR history. And they got dissed by a sponsor and don't appear to have another heavy hitter lined up -- at least not yet.

David Caraviello: This is completely indicative of the economic situation as a whole. With so much corporate involvement, NASCAR is the canary in the coal mine when it comes to a recession.

Joe Menzer: Ah, the canary in the coal mine -- almost as good as "the chrome horn." I guess you could say General Mills gave the chrome horn to Petty Enterprises and killed the canary in the coal mine in the process.

Beth Ann Morgenthau

Bye for now

BAM Racing was supposed to return to the Cup Series at Talladega but s primary sponosr issue has forced the team to hold off racing until the fall.

• Complete story, click here

Mark Aumann: It's not like we haven't been seeing this coming. We've lost Cal Wells and Morgan-McClure in recent years.

David Caraviello: Correct, Mark. This is nothing new. Sponsorship dries up in tough economic times, especially for struggling teams like BAM.

Mark Aumann: The Yates folks are running two cars without sponsorship.

Joe Menzer: Yeah, how long can that go on with Yates?

Mark Aumann: Well, I guessing Ford's keeping them supplied -- and as long as they're in the top 35, there's no reason for Doug to pull the plug.

David Caraviello: Strange thing is, some of those Yates cars have been running pretty well. They've had some top-20 runs of late, not bad for a team with no backing. That keeps hope alive. Makes you wonder what they could do with a sponsor.

Mark Aumann: It's just so hard when large companies put together their marketing plan months in advance -- so if you don't hit their window, you're out of luck.

Joe Menzer: They deserve sponsorship, as does, obviously, Petty. But in Yates' case, at least, I'm not sure that means they get any of the heavy hitters to come on board in these bad economic times.

Mark Aumann: And it comes down to "how much exposure am I getting for the money?" If you're running 30th and never getting mentioned on television, can you get $12-15 million from a shrinking pool of folks willing to hand over that kind of scratch?

Joe Menzer: I think the bigger picture of concern here is this: is it getting so expensive that ultimately all the little guys will be completely run out of the sport? And then you have like six or seven mega-teams and a few fillers each week? That could lead to smaller fields, say maybe 40-car fields, down the road.

David Caraviello: And this BAM thing, as difficult as it is, is no different. It's survival of the fittest out there, boys.

Mark Aumann: I guess I'd agree, David, except that Ganassi's still looking for full-time sponsorship -- and Childress may need someone to step up for the No. 31 in '09. It's hitting more than just the bottom-feeders. And yet fully-funded teams like Red Bull are still fighting to make every race. It's a mystery.

David Caraviello: Also playing into this is the fact that so many big teams have so many sponsors. Roush, it seems, has three or four for every car. Why would you sponsor BAM for a full season when you can get a piece of Matt Kenseth for a fraction of the price?

Mark Aumann: And that seems to be the wave of the future. The costs are rising faster than the number of folks willing to pay full freight. Look at Home Depot, selling off a few races to Subway.

Joe Menzer: That right there says it all. Why would you pay the bigger dollars to get on a car that isn't going to get the exposure? The simple answer: you won't.

David Caraviello: And then there are the Nationwide sponsors, who get their Cup driver in that series, rather than paying the price for Cup. The little teams are fighting all of this.

Mark Aumann: It's just beginning to price itself out of the market. So what's the answer, guys?

Joe Menzer: As nice a story as the top-20 runs are for Yates Racing, I'm pretty sure even that is not enough exposure for the folks who might be willing to invest the $15 million or whatever it takes to be a primary sponsor.

David Caraviello: Isn't the new car supposed to lower costs and make everyone more competitive?

Joe Menzer: I think what we're finding with the new car is what many folks said we would -- I remember one conversation in particular with Ray Evernham -- if you save X on one side of your program, you're just going to spend X somewhere else.

Mark Aumann: But the rolling stock is probably the smallest item on the budget. I'm guessing personnel, transportation and testing take up the overwhelming majority of each team's budget. And that's something that's going to be hard to reverse.

Joe Menzer: What I'm saying is that if you give a team $20 million to spend, they'll find a way to spend $20 million -- no matter what car is being run. Same if it's $25 mil or $10 mil. And the big boys like Hendrick and Roush and Joe Gibbs Racing are always going to be getting the most money. Maybe RCR, too.

Mark Aumann: As they say, want to make a small fortune in racing? Start with a large one.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writers