GM's cuts in Truck, N'wide heighten carmaker stress

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- The plants that build American passenger cars may be 75 miles away, but their influence is always felt at Michigan International Speedway. In many ways this is Detroit's race track, a facility that attracts the attention of the domestic manufacturers involved in NASCAR, and a place where all of them want to win. Now, though, that intrinsic connection with the Motor City is being felt in different, less encouraging ways.

Cutting support

General Motors is cutting factory support for Chevrolet teams competing in the Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series as the automaker restructures under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

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The plight of bankrupt General Motors hit NASCAR broadside Friday, when it became clear that the struggling carmaker was eliminating its financial support to teams that sport its Chevrolet brand in the Nationwide and Camping World Truck series. The owners of Kevin Harvick Inc. and JR Motorsports both confirmed that funding to their organizations had been discontinued, and other teams braced for similar cuts.

"I have to keep racing, and we'll keep racing General Motors products, for sure," said Richard Childress, who fields a car on the Nationwide circuit, and plans to meet with GM officials next week. "They've been good to us for many, many, many years. We've had a great partnership, and we've just got to see what comes out of it. Everybody's going through tough times right now. ... You do what you've got to do to survive. If you want to keep racing, you do what you've got to do."

Harvick, whose team fields competitive entries on both the Nationwide and Truck series -- including the No. 33 truck of Ron Hornaday, second in points entering Saturday's race at Michigan -- confirmed in a statement that his organization had lost factory support, and would require some internal restructuring as a result. JR Motorsports owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. said that funding to his single-car Nationwide entry had been pulled, and that he would try to make up the financial difference.

"We'll try to do the best we can to cover the void that will create. Chevrolet is going through some very challenging times, and I had a true understanding that this would be coming down the pipe and they would have to make some adjustments. Every company, not only this company, but particularly having a couple of my own, I've had to make adjustments due to how the economy has turned. So it wouldn't be any different for anybody else," said Earnhardt, whose driver Brad Keselowski is fourth in Nationwide points entering Saturday's race in Kentucky.

"Obviously, the support that Chevy was able to provide us was in a lot of ways a privilege only to a few teams. Not everybody had that support. You see a lot of other guys who are getting to the race track without that kind of manufacturer support. To me, it was always a feather in your cap and never taken for granted. We'll be able to try to do some unique programs with our sponsors and future partners to try to cover that expense. But I personally in no way feel like it's changed my relationship with or my perception toward Chevrolet and how I work with them in the future." (Continued)