When it became clear to officials at Petty Enterprises that the legendary NASCAR operation needed an influx of capital to improve its chances of competing at a higher level, the sport's most successful race team did something that many others before them had already done -- they sold part of their organization to another company.

The sale of a majority of Petty Enterprises on Wednesday to Massachusetts-based private equity firm Boston Ventures was the latest in a long line of mergers, acquisitions, and sell-offs that have altered the face of the Sprint Cup circuit. It's become common practice, selling part or all of a team in hopes of raising enough money to hire enough people and buy enough equipment to close the gap on the best in the sport. Of the 19 Sprint Cup teams that went to Pocono Raceway last weekend, all but five had merged with another entity, acquired another entity, or formed a competitive alliance with another organization. It's become one of those irresistible trends, like signing developmental drivers or hiring ex-athletes to go over the wall.

A good move

On Wednesday, Petty Enterprises announced a partnership with Boston Ventures -- Joe Menzer says that's exactly what the organization needed to compete and return to its past glory.

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But it also may be coming to an end. The remaining holdouts include small, Denver-based Furniture Row Racing, the well-financed Red Bull team, Penske Racing, and the two organizations everyone is chasing -- two-time defending champion Hendrick Motorsports, and current points leader Joe Gibbs Racing, outfits that haven't shown any outward signs of wanting to merge with anyone. With the pool of available teams getting smaller, Petty Enterprises may be the final player in NASCAR's mergers and acquisitions game.

"I have a hunch we're at the back end of the curve rather than the middle of the curve on this," said Max Muhleman, a Charlotte-based sports consultant who founded one of the country's first sports marketing firms, "just for the reason that there aren't too many major players left out there."

The major players that have taken part have produced, to this point, mixed results. Richard Childress, who sold a stake in his team to Chartwell Investments in 2003 and used the money to reorganize and strengthen an organization that had been rocked by Dale Earnhardt's death, is on pace to place all three of his cars in the Chase for a second consecutive year. Carl Edwards has emerged as the first serious championship threat for a Roush Fenway team created when Roush Racing sold 50 percent of its operation to Fenway Sports Group early last year. Kasey Kahne has won two races this season, the first big step forward for a Gillett Evernham combination formed last August. Michael Waltrip sold half his team to London financier Rob Kauffman last October, but all three of his cars remain low in points.

Other types of mergers -- Dale Earnhardt Inc. absorbing Ginn Racing, Chip Ganassi buying Felix Sabates' team, the likes of Hall of Fame Racing, Yates Racing, Robby Gordon Motorsports and Haas CNC Racing forming alliances with larger teams -- haven't produced startling turnarounds, either. Even Kyle Petty was once among the doubters, commenting not too long ago that none of these arrangements had been successful in catching Hendrick Motorsports. Now, he's changed his mind -- sort of.

"Gillett is moving in that direction and I think that's one thing that changed my father's mind. He's starting to see some positives, when you look at the Roush Fenway thing, when you look at what Gillett has been doing," Kyle said. "If you go back to last year when Gillett first invested in the Evernham cars, I didn't see any improvement last year when he first came in. I think that's what [Boston Ventures officials] are saying here. Don't look for an initial bump in anything on the racetrack. It's going to take us time to get our feet wet, to understand want this sport is all about, to move forward. Maybe [I was] being a little naive, thinking somebody could come into the sport and have a major impact right off the bat. When you look at where the Roush Fenway organization's gone, where the Gillett organization has gone, they're headed in the right direction. Have they had a major impact against the Hendrick organization? I still say no."

Now Petty is looking for the same financial boost that righted Childress' organization and appears to be finally bearing fruit at Gillett Evernham. But because these are private companies that don't readily open their ledgers to reporters -- Boston Ventures managing director Andy Davis declined to even divulge the percentage of the team his firm had purchased -- there's much about these types of deals that we don't know. Does the undisclosed purchase price go toward racing operations, or into the bank accounts of the sellers? Is the buyer obligated to provide a certain amount of additional money each season for operating costs or new equipment? And perhaps most importantly, what does a firm like Boston Ventures want out of the deal?

"I'm more concerned with why the investment firms are doing it," Muhleman said. "An investment bank buys a company to resell it. These people aren't posing necessarily as investment bankers trying to make an acquisition they can resell. In fact, you would discount that as a reason to buy any of these teams, to resell them. So why are they buying it? Do they think the team can make a bottom-line profit? Well, if you don't have to repay the money they paid to buy it, if they're willing to disregard that, then the profits will probably start to flow fairly quickly. But most businesses charge off debt, as an expense in addition to all the other expenses. That would be the question to ask any of the people who buy these things -- what's your return in investment strategy? I think it's easier to understand the Pettys' or [Ray] Evernham's objective and benefit than sometimes it is the investor."

The primary goal of a Richard Petty or an Evernham, people who sold majority interest in their organizations to other entities, is clear -- to enhance competitiveness, to win more races and contend for championships. But there might be another reason as well. With no franchising in NASCAR, the only equity team owners have is their shop and equipment. Some team owners have faced sad endings, their few assets auctioned off for pennies on the dollar after decades of dedication and hard work. This recent wave of mergers might allow team owners to build something of a retirement nest egg, if the money paid by the incoming partner isn't committed directly to racing operations.

"With the Pettys or even the Roushes, one of the things they get out of this is they're cashing in their life's work in a way they couldn't otherwise," Muhleman said. "If you're trying to make a profit racing, and put away a big fat paycheck for a rainy day, that's a hard way to go. Because some season when you wreck 14 cars, you're not going to have any payday. But on this one, if [investors] are paying for what backers call blue sky -- the name and the stake -- this is their ante. They'll pay $20 million, or whatever the number. Is there any obligation for the Pettys to spend any of that money? Maybe not. So that $20 million goes into the bank. Never in Richard's lifetime or Kyle's are they going to put that kind of money away out of operating a winning stock car team."

That's not always the case; when he bought half of Waltrip's team last year, Kauffman stated specifically that his money would go directly toward racing operations. While these outside investors often speak of being race fans and wanting to win races -- as new Petty CEO David Zucker did Wednesday -- their companies exist to make money. And making money in NASCAR is difficult, even for winning teams. After all, how do you make $1 million in racing? As the old adage says, you start with $2 million.

These merger deals could include provisions that call for the new owners to commit additional money each year toward operating costs. They might included pieces of expensive new equipment like a seven-post shaker rig. The new owners might have a business plan that entails making back the money they spent to buy the team. All this in a sport beholden to corporate sponsorship, where race purses are small, driver salaries are high, and money doesn't come easy.

"If they're not doing well, those folks who are used to eating oysters up there in Boston are not going to be happy," Muhleman said. "It goes back to, what's the owner's strategy? Can they make money? Yes, they're going to have more fun, but how much fun can you have for $10 million a year? We'll just have to wait and see how it works out. It's more likely the investor is going to have buyer's remorse than the seller is going to have seller's remorse. Because they should have gotten a decent price. If they didn't get a decent price, then shame on them."