TRG commits to schedule with limited sponsorship (cont'd)

After racing into the top 35 in owners' points, with its guaranteed starting spot, Buckler set a deadline for finding sponsorship to continue, which came and went. A couple rough races barely knocked the team out of the top 35 and then, after wooing a sponsor for "a couple months," Buckler said, "we found out at the end of the day it was sort of a sham."

But Gilliland's initial promise working with veteran crew chief Slugger Labbe has caused Buckler to bring his team to the track each week -- though at the same time TRG's Cinderella-like story also has coal-smeared tones. The no-nonsense owner said he'll use the same strategy to succeed in NASCAR as in sports cars, and that means doing whatever it takes -- even doing what's almost considered a dirty word in NASCAR circles.

"We had to pull back," Buckler said. "We've been doing a few, you know, start and parks here in the last couple of races -- but as of [Wednesday] morning we've committed fully to Charlotte -- we'll be doing a triple play for the Charlotte weekend."

Buckler continues to get technical support from Richard Childress Racing, as well as Cup chassis and Earnhardt Childress Racing Technologies engines.

"We're going to be running David in the 7 in the Truck Series, for the first time," Buckler said. "That will be great. We'll be running the [Sprint Showdown] as well, hopefully making it in [the All-Star Race]. And then we're going to run the [Coca-Cola] 600."

That more reflects Buckler's well-established track record in road racing, which he's quickly shown signs of emulating in stock cars. In 2002, as a driver Buckler won his class at two 24-hour classics, Daytona and Le Mans and a year later, returned and co-drove to the overall victory in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, a rare feat in a secondary-class GT Porsche.

More than anything, despite setting up a sports car program that's separate from the stock car operation, and having all the entities fiscally independent, and responsible, so they don't drain resources from each other; Buckler's remained open-minded, particularly when he talks sponsorship for Friday night's Truck race, Saturday's Showdown and next weekend's 600.

"It's not in place yet," Buckler said. "We don't want to run it blank. We have a couple of people that are looking to be with us [but] they haven't committed yet. I'm absolutely adamant about finding a partner sponsor for a few of these races.

"I'm trying to find one person that would be involved in all three events just because it would be so nice to have that, so we can immerse them in our program for an entire week. But I don't have it figured out yet. But if anybody has any clues or suggestions, fire them at me."

Buckler, who also operates the Adobe Road Winery in California's Napa Valley, said his business skills, along with those of his wife, Debra, have been critical to their racing operation's success.

"My wife does a great job as our CFO," Buckler said. "We've got a tight group here in the office, really watching our P's and Q's -- watching our dollars, working with our people, working with our staff; getting absolutely the most out of our program.

"Then taking that to the NASCAR world and applying a lot of those skills. If anything, I got a lot of push-back from the guys down there. A lot of times they were used to working on a fairly unlimited budget with either a boss that didn't see that much of the details or somebody that didn't care. In the Truck Series you have a lot of absentee owners; we went through that with a couple of the people when we started. We had to weed out those guys.

"Now we have a group of tough guys that work hard and understand. They're going to get every one of those invoices inspected and if the box isn't checked correctly on the rental car for the insurance, Debra's going to be on them like you know what -- so it did carry over, big time.

"Without those small business skills, I can pretty much guarantee you, we would not be here today."