HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- It seemed like some folks lingered a little longer than usual in the Sprint Cup garage Sunday night following the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Not everyone. Dale Earnhardt Jr. scurried off after meeting his post-race media obligations. Others darted here or there, rapidly putting away tools and packing up haulers.

But if you looked closely, there was the unmistakable air of bittersweet emotion -- not only because the 2008 season had come to an end, but because everyone knew what has been dubbed "Black Monday" was about to follow.

Much was about to change, and everyone knew it. The garage that opens for the 2009 Daytona 500 next February will not look exactly like the one that closed down Sunday night at Homestead.

It might not even be close.

Max Siegel was attending his last race as president of global operations for Dale Earnhardt Inc. He'll be back next season, but DEI, in its present form, will not and he'll have a new title. The company founded by the late Dale Earnhardt is merging with Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates next season.

Siegel said DEI was forced to let go of more than 70 employees to make its end of the merger work. He added that he has heard estimates that up to 750 employees in NASCAR's three national series will be laid off by the end of the work day Monday -- and that he believes that estimate might be low.

"I've been hearing from 700 to 1,200. I'm not sure what everybody else is doing," Siegel said. "I'm actually going to be watching curiously just like everybody else. These are all pretty much privately held companies, so you don't want to get into everybody else's business. But it's tough out there."

Not alone
About 30 minutes after Sunday's race ended, Tony Stewart was still at the No. 20 Toyota hauler talking with one of the men who owns it. You might have heard of him: Coach Joe Gibbs.

Stewart used to drive for him. That 10-year, two-championship run ended at the conclusion of Sunday's 267-lap race, but it was obvious Stewart wasn't going to make one of his patented quick exits from the garage -- despite the fact that he had to give up the lead, and potentially the race victory, to pit for gas with 11 laps to go.

After talking with the elder Gibbs and his son, JGR president J.D. Gibbs, as well as several others from the Home Depot team that he is leaving, Stewart took a leisurely stroll down to the hauler marked Haas CNC Racing, shaking hands and flashing a smile as if he were a politician all along the way.

It seemed unlike Stewart. But beginning next February, the Haas CNC hauler will bear his likeness and his name. He's starting up Stewart-Haas Racing and will field two cars -- one to be driven by himself and a second to be driven by Ryan Newman, who is leaving Penske Racing after driving the No. 12 Dodge for owner Roger Penske since 2000.

As J.D. Gibbs watched Stewart work the crowd and saunter away, he admitted he did so with mixed emotions.

On his terms

Tony Stewart wasn't victim of cutbacks, but Sunday was his last race with longtime employer Joe Gibbs Racing.

• Complete story, click here

"It's bittersweet," Gibbs said. "But look, we're still going to see him. It would be different if he was just going away. He's still going to be in the sport and still be a part of it. I told him, 'As a fellow owner, feel free to call. I'll give you my two cents and we can commiserate together -- because you're going to need to do some commiserating.' "

Gibbs said his operation is "blessed" because no Monday cuts from its employee force were planned. He did admit that some employees were let go -- he wouldn't specify how many -- when a motor program JGR had been running to supply engines for the No. 96 Toyota of Hall of Fame Racing was terminated some time ago.

There are rumors that the struggling HOF operation will be going away entirely, but Gibbs said he expects it to return "perhaps as a part-time deal" next season. Either way, it will be part of the changing landscape in the garage as well.

Gibbs admitted it won't be close to the same, with NASCAR's team operations merely the latest collateral damage in a slumping national economy that may get even worse before it begins to get better.

"In the 17 years we've been in this, this is the third time we've kind of seen it really take this type of hit. It might be the worst, I don't know," Gibbs said. "Before you only had 38 or 39 [full-time] cars showing up every week. Now, because you went from 53 [at the season-opening Daytona 500 two years ago] to 39 or 42 next year, that's kind of a bigger deal. I think you'll still see full fields, but I think there will probably be some guys just showing up to get their car in and then parking it.

"But it's not just racing. It's every industry. Whereas before it was just racing hurting a little bit, now it's across the board. I think everybody understands that and knows that it's just part of life."

The human element
Both Siegel and Gibbs said the most difficult aspect of their jobs is when they must tell an employee that his services are no longer required -- or at least no longer affordable for the company.

That's because their companies are smaller and operated on a more personal level than larger corporations that operate outside of NASCAR (and maybe used to feed sponsorship dollars to the stock-car behemoth). Even the big bosses in NASCAR know the guys who work in the shop, and realize how devastating the loss of a job in this economy can be.

"When you travel every week and you get to know people on a personal level, it's a lot more emotional than if you're sitting in a corporate headquarters somewhere and you just say, 'OK, well, we're going to lay off 50,000 people or whatever.' It is very personal," Siegel said. "And people in this sport are incredibly passionate. I love that. People do this because they love it. A lot of people go to work to earn a living and do a job. People are involved in racing, by and large, because they just are so passionate about it. I think that emotionally has an even greater impact -- when you're not able to do something that you love so much."

Gibbs added: "You know 'em. You see 'em and talk to 'em every day. It makes it hard. For us, this is the second time we had to make cuts like this. We had to let go a whole Nationwide team about five years ago, and that was really hard. It was like 14 guys -- and they worked so hard, so that was real difficult. This, too, is difficult.

“

People ask me to explain it, and I'm like, 'Well, every Fortune 100 company that has been impacted by the economy and is in our sport, this is their marketing platform. So naturally it's going to have an impact on us.'

”

MAX SIEGEL

"We have a lot of people who work there. But you still know everybody. It's not like we're a corporation with thousands and thousands of employees. I think it's hard for everyone who has to go through that and sit down in front of a guy and say, 'Hey, man, we just don't have a spot.'"

Siegel said DEI had no choice but to merge with another race organization to survive. But he also said he knows that DEI is not alone.

"Quite frankly, everybody is feeling the pinch," Siegel said. "The thing that's been actually pretty encouraging, to be honest with you, is that there has been a spirit of cooperation in the garage. I mean, all of the team managers have been calling each other [and saying], 'Do you need anybody? Who are you going to lose? What are you looking for?' So people are really digging in and really trying to make sure that as many people that get displaced in this sport, maybe there is another place for them somewhere else.

"It's hard to describe the impact the economy has had on the sport. People ask me to explain it, and I'm like, 'Well, every Fortune 100 company that has been impacted by the economy and is in our sport, this is their marketing platform. So naturally it's going to have an impact on us.'

Gibbs said the upheaval was unavoidable under the unusual circumstances. Then he added: "But I think the sport will be fine. I think it will retract for a little bit, but then it will come back out of it like every business. It's just going to take a little while."

A chill ran through the Florida night as the haulers began to pull out of Homestead-Miami Speedway, one by one. The temperature seemed unusually cool as the wind stirred when one emblazoned with Penske Racing chugged toward the tunnel leading to the outside.

On the back doors of the hauler, a decal proclaiming the driver of the No. 12 Dodge as Ryan Newman hadn't yet been removed. It, and others like it, will be gone when the hauler makes a return trip to Daytona Beach in February -- along with hundreds of workers who toil behind the scenes to make a 36-race season the entertaining circuit that it is.

"Sometimes," said Siegel, a sad look crossing his face, "it just comes with the territory."

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.