Lack of funding has even big Truck teams struggling (cont'd)

Like close to a third of the field at Michigan, third-place Mike Skinner is running without a sponsor's logo on the hood. When asked about his team's situation, the 1995 champion had a one-word answer.

"Terrible," Skinner said. "We don't have the inventory of trucks. We don't have money to run the team that we need. David Dollar and Eric Phillips and everybody at Randy Moss Motorsports is really skimming to make this thing work. It's sad, because this is one hell of a race team. With a little funding, this thing could probably be one of the best race teams in the garage."

Ripple effect

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.

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Starr feels the pain, too. He's sixth in the standings and still racing despite the cashflow crunch.

"It's tough right now with these economic times," Starr said. "Jim Harris is a very smart businessman, and if you look at our team, we've got one of the smaller teams, it's smaller but efficient. We don't have like 10 guys, we have four guys, and they do a good job. It's just watching what you spend and being more efficient with what you have."

At least Bodine, Skinner and Starr have Toyota support. The news earlier this weekend that General Motors is planning on eliminating its factory support for Nationwide and Truck teams -- and 16 Chevrolets made the Michigan field -- only adds to the concern about what the future holds. The only question haunting teams that's bigger than "where will the money come from next?" is "how long will this go on?" Most drivers think this will be a temporary blip, but aren't entirely sure.

"It's a sign of our economy right now," Skinner said. "What a lot of companies do, is when the economy's bad and their sales are down and their business is off, they start looking at prioritizing where they do their marketing. This Truck Series is a great bang for the buck, but they have to structure their strategy around priorities, and the first thing you do is watch your dollars.

"I think it will come back. I don't know that it will ever come back as strong as it was a couple of years ago. But it'll come back, and we'll learn to do with less. What we're all going to have to do is adapt."

What's most frustrating is that the product is fine, the presentation is fine and the potential for growth is there. But when "it's money that matters," Truck teams are having to make do until better times.

Thanks to a couple of late entries, Michigan had a full 36-truck field despite losing Benson's team. But a third of the field had retired well before the halfway mark of the race, for a variety of mechanical ailments. And top-flight teams like those of Bodine, Skinner and Starr continue to wonder how long they can keep going in this environment.

"Our following is getting bigger, our TV ratings are growing," Starr said. "We haven't even scratched the surface as far as where this series is going. But right now, with all these times we're going through, every week we come to the race track, and I look at the trucks and hope there's a new sponsor there somewhere. With the product we have, we put on a heck of a show for the fans.

"It's very challenging right now, but a great product will prevail."