Martin, Hornaday proof age just number even as racers (cont'd)

2. Jack Daniel's is pulling out of NASCAR. Should Richard Childress Racing try to find another sponsor for its fourth car, or contract back to three?

Joe Menzer: Go back to three and don't even think about a fourth again -- if ever -- until those three are more competitive again. And by competitive, I mean winning, or at least truly contending in, more races.

Dave Rodman: As Tony Stewart appears to have done, I believe a deadline -- a strict one -- needs to be put in place, and if appropriate backing can't be found, the deck needs to be reorganized. As Joe said, three competitive cars are better than one competitive one and three mediocre -- or at best, inconsistent -- ones.

Hitting the road

Jack Daniel's will not extend its sponsorship with Richard Childress Racing's No. 07 team.

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David Caraviello: Well, given what RCR did last year with three and this year with four, the answer seems obvious. But Richard Childress hasn't weighed in publicly on this yet, and we're not sure what his business model is. If he needs the money from four sponsors to make it a go, then he kind of has no choice, regardless of the disparate results of the past two seasons.

Joe Menzer: I'm sure the RCR business model includes, even revolves around, better results on the track. Shutting down the fourth car and pouring whatever resources it has into the other three, to me, is the only thing that makes sense. If that happens, though, I can't help but feel for Casey Mears. While you could argue he has had his chances in choice rides and has failed to produce, which he has, he also has never had continuity in his deal no matter where he's been.

David Caraviello: Well, we don't know what's going to happen yet. I will grant that it does seem too coincidental that this backslide occurs just as the organization expanded. I mean, look how good Jeff Burton was three years ago, how good Clint Bowyer was two years ago, all those cars the team put in the Chase. It's just too convenient that it fell off the map just as it expanded. Although I will say the RCR cars have run better as of late.

Dave Rodman: The available finances might mean a partial schedule for one of the three teams. One of them might become a partial schedule race team and a full-time R&D team -- but that takes money, too, and a special individual behind the wheel.

Joe Menzer: Are you serious? A partial schedule for one of RCR's remaining three teams? I don't see that happening. What special driver does it have that would be willing to do that? Geez, in 10 minutes, we've pared RCR down from a four-car operation to two-and-a-partial. We should have been hired by NASCAR to get Roush's operation under the limit. We could have done it in 10 minutes, too.

Dave Rodman: This past weekend someone indicated they had gotten the least bit, I won't say complacent, but comfortable with where they were. Not a fatal mistake, but in this sport it's enough, if everyone else is incessantly busting it, to get you behind. And RCR appears to be harvesting what it's sown right now, though it is showing good signs of breaking out of it. Its people are too good, and they've all had too much success not to think something good is waiting at the end of this tunnel, however many bumps they've got to get over to reach it.

David Caraviello: Well, it has been hurt more than anyone else by this testing ban, it seems. So the idea of using one car strictly for information-gathering isn't that far-fetched. The problem is, who's going to pay for it? No sponsor is going to put its money on a guinea pig.

Joe Menzer: And none of its three remaining drivers -- assuming Mears and the fourth car are ultimately out -- are going to stand for driving a guinea pig. Meanwhile, I think the bigger picture we might be missing here is the fact that two big-time sponsors bailed out this week -- Jack Daniel's and Jim Beam. It's enough to make some folks at RCR and Robby Gordon's places start drinking some of that stuff.

David Caraviello: Childress still has three full-time sponsors locked up through next year, I believe, so it won't field fewer than three cars. He's also been the master at luring sponsors from other organizations, although who knows if he can do that now with the economy the way it is. And Joe, I think we're all very aware of the sponsor departures. NASCAR let hard liquor into the sport earlier this decade specifically because it needed new sponsorship blood in a down time. That tactic seems to have run its course.

Dave Rodman: Winning a race or two in this Chase wouldn't hurt the RCR guys. But the Chasers, once again, proved why they are where they are at New Hampshire. It's going to be damned hard for more than a couple of non-Chase cars to break into the top 10 anywhere the series goes in the last nine weeks.

David Caraviello: Anyway, it seems appropriate that we all do a shot of their product to wish the Jack Daniel's folks goodbye. Who's pouring?

Joe Menzer: I think I'll stick to my Coors Light. (Continued)