Smack: In these economic times, best to stay or go?

1. General Motors has filed for bankruptcy. Richard Petty says support from Dodge is on hold. For the NASCAR teams who work with these car manufacturers, how much trouble looms?

Dave Rodman: If the financial monster was standing there, looming over everything with his arms crossed, he just unfolded his big, black wings and spread them to completely block out the sun. How's that for imagery?

Joe Menzer: You know, it's hard to say. But when all you read and hear is about how now the U.S. Government is going to own 60 percent of a slimmed-down GM, etc., etc., you've got to believe serious cuts are coming to their stock-car racing programs.

David Caraviello: I'll be honest, I really struggle to figure this out. How much financial support are these guys receiving, anyway? We don't really know. So we don't know what the impact will be if it dries up. And, one attempt at humor in Car and Driver aside, we have heard nothing indicating that the government is going to strip down all marketing funds -- which is where racing would be affected, given that NASCAR programs are essentially big advertising campaigns.

Joe Menzer: I do believe that this is something NASCAR has seen coming for some time. And that the "new car," which routinely gets bashed for not being racy enough [while maybe not praised enough for being imminently safer], was a move that will help ease dependency on the manufacturers.

Dave Rodman: If that was done by design, well, good for NASCAR on that score. It doesn't solve the general issue of where money is gonna come from, and how these teams in general are going to be able to do as much with less, which I think is going to become more of an issue as we move forward. And you're right, David, about trying to paint any kind of picture with a lack of a clear medium. We're not privy to any of these teams' financials, so who knows who's getting what from whom, and on what schedule. The bottom line though, is that in tough times, this is not going to make it any easier for anyone.

David Caraviello: And yet ... GM is bankrupt, but Hendrick still has three cars winning races. Dodge is bankrupt, yet Kurt Busch is having a great season and Kasey Kahne has a shot to make the Chase. That makes you wonder how important this kind of assistance really is to begin with. For some teams, I'm sure manufacturer assistance is crucial. But the amounts manufacturers spend vary wildly from team to team. And teams with big sponsors locked in place are going to weather this better than teams that don't have that financial safety net to fall back on.

Charging ahead

Richard Petty says Dodge is working on a plan to pull its backing of his four-car team.

• Garage Pass: Petty explains
• Bankruptcy hurting Dodge
• NASCAR confident in GM
• Hendrick hopeful with GM

Dave Rodman: But David, this may be something whose impact we don't see right away -- just like on-site attendance has been continually shrinking, along with TV ratings. Speaking of which, it will be a real interesting statement to see, if everything else is equal to a year ago, what the ratings on TNT do after Pocono this weekend. As you know, there is some real exciting stuff happening, and if the ratings go up or stay even, it'll be indicative of an issue with "the other guys" and not the sport -- and that would be, relatively speaking, good news.

Joe Menzer: Now one thing our esteemed President [of the United States, not Turner Sports] has said is that he has no intention of getting our government involved in the day-to-day operations of these car companies. But someone, somewhere has a mandate to cut costs big time. I think what is happening right now, in the present, may have little to do with giving us a window into what the long-term effect of this is going to be. Bottom line is this could be real trouble to the new Richard Petty Motorsports and some teams like that struggling to go from, let's say, mid-major to major status.

David Caraviello: Rick Hendrick -- who ought to know something about the inner workings of the auto industry -- has said he knows of no team that depends solely on manufacturer dollars. And most championship-contending teams have all the simulation, seven-post and other tools in-house. Which means that for the successful teams, this could be a hiccup.

Dave Rodman: But if some of the rumblings we heard out of the NASCAR summit are true, even some big-time sponsors are trying to cut corners on deals they already had. For sure we haven't seen the end of the economic impact on everyone.

Joe Menzer: David may have hit it on the head in one respect. This could ultimately result in a case of the rich -- as in those with the most sponsorship dollars still rolling in -- getting richer. Having said that, no one really talks much about the fact that while they are hurting to a certain degree, Ford and Toyota obviously are in much better financial shape than the other two manufacturer brands in the sport. Will Ford and Toyota gain ground at the expense of the others' troubles?

David Caraviello: Joe, I wonder the same thing. And yet, with all this trouble GM and Dodge are in, Ford hasn't won a race since what, California? Granted, they're not exactly awash in profits, but that tells you something about what kind of big players manufacturers might really be in this day and age.

Joe Menzer: Again, what we are seeing in the present may have very little to what we begin to see in the very near future. What is happening now with GM and Dodge won't fully impact the Sprint Cup Series, I'll bet, until late this season at the earliest -- and maybe not until next year and beyond.

David Caraviello: And yet, there are folks like my good friend Lennie, who thinks this all means we'll be racing horse buggies by the end of the year. Who knows.

Joe Menzer: Or Toyotas. (Continued)