GM's cuts in Truck, N'wide heighten carmaker stress (cont'd)

GM, Chevy's parent company, is currently restructuring under a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing and is in the process of shuttering or idling many of its production plants. Chevrolet representatives would not confirm Friday that the Truck and Nationwide cuts were occurring, saying only that the company is in the midst of a thorough review of expenditures, and that it would not discuss the details of its business relationships.

"We're continuing to manage how this business is run from every regard," said Pat Suhy, group manager for GM Racing. "It's not just racing, it's everywhere from manufacturing to engineering, all the other sales and marketing activities. We're going through a reinvention. We'll find out where we come out of it on the back end, and continue to be successful here and elsewhere."

Exactly how much financial assistance race teams receive from manufacturers is a closely guarded secret. Not all teams receive the same amount, and some smaller operations in the Nationwide or Truck garages -- even those that bear carmaker logos -- may be getting little to no support at all. Earnhardt said manufacturer money comprised only a "very small" percentage of his Nationwide team's operating budget, with the bulk of it coming from sponsor money.

Now that manufacturing money is going away, but Earnhardt hopes Nationwide and Truck teams will still have access to the technical assistance that manufacturers provide.

"I really don't know what each program, what their situation was as far what assistance that Chevrolet was giving them in terms of dollars or wind tunnel time or whatever. But I know that through their manufactures and their centers up north, that we'll still probably have a lot of engineering data to trade back and forth, and we'll still try to learn a lot of things from them on the engineering side of things," he said.

"Obviously, the financial side of it is entirely going away, which everybody understands. Obviously, Chevrolet really cares deeply about this sport, and they still want to maintain some relationships, and they still want to see Chevrolets win no matter who's driving them or who owns them. So they'll still offer quite a bit, I guess, of support on the engineering and data side."

On the Truck side, Chevrolet's pullout leaves Toyota as the only manufacturer currently providing financial help to teams. Because of the sluggish domestic car market, Dodge and Ford both pulled out of the circuit last year.

"For sure, it definitely hurts a little bit of my interest and probably even more people's interest that there isn't any support. It's tough. It's a struggle, for sure. The Truck Series, for one, is a struggle. At Texas, they had 33 trucks there and there was only about 21 real decent trucks," said Sprint Cup driver Kyle Busch, who often competes in Truck and Nationwide events.

"The lack of support from the manufacturers is difficult. I know that Dodge pulled out ... Ford pulled out this year, and it doesn't surprise me that Chevrolet is now pulling out. The Nationwide Series though, support falling out of that series is going to make that series tough, too. Especially with NASCAR wanting to go to the new car there next year for road courses and restrictor-plate tracks, and the following year full time. I don't know how that is going to work out."

These are indeed uneasy times for those involved with the racing arms of American car manufacturers, with the parent companies of Chevrolet and Dodge both undergoing bankruptcy restructuring. Richard Petty Motorsports, which fields four Dodges in the Sprint Cup Series, reportedly laid off several employees in anticipation of manufacturer cuts, and recently allied with a Nationwide organization that competes in Toyotas. With manufacturer money to Nationwide and Truck operations being slashed, everyone now waits to see if -- or when -- funding to teams at NASCAR's highest level will begin to dry up.

"What people have to get through their heads is that we're going to be racing race cars ... with or without [the manufacturers]," said Greg Biffle, who drives a Ford. "The amount of support they provide us is important, but we can continue to race without that support. It just means [we have to] cut back on technology or testing or whatever else. I can think back to when I was late model racing or Camping World East or West racing, there's no support there. You go to your local track Friday or Saturday, a guy has a Chevy, a Dodge, a Ford or whatever, and nobody is footing his bill. He chooses which manufacturer he wants to race in the series, and that's what he does. Hendrick Motorsports is going to be racing cars, whether they have any support or what the level might be. I'm pretty confident of that."