CONCORD, N.C. -- There was no splashy unveiling, no Camp David-like photo opportunity of new partners shaking hands, no announcement of a merger or an alliance. True to their south Virginia nature, the Wood Brothers simply let everyone know Thursday that yes, they'd be back in NASCAR this season, albeit on reduced basis. And they'd be doing it just how they've done it for most of their 58 previous years in racing -- on their own terms.

In a sport beset by merger mania, where in difficult economic times teams are banding together just to survive, the Woods are like the last men standing when the music stops, and there are no more chairs to be had. Petty Enterprises merged with Gillett Evernham. Chip Ganassi merged with Dale Earnhardt Inc. Hall of Fame Racing aligned with Yates Racing. Yet the Woods, well aware of the current recession-induced sponsorship shortage -- they lost two car sponsors last season, and approach 2009 with just a nine-race deal with Motorcraft -- forge ahead on their own.

Daytona 500 bound

The Wood Bros. will field their famed No. 21 car in the 2009 Daytona 500 and two-time Daytona 500 champion Bill Elliot will be behind the wheel.

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Of course, they explored the idea of a merger or partnership. They had attempted one before, inking what proved to be a short-lived deal with Tad Geschicker's team. To hear co-owners Eddie and Len Wood talk, they had some options. And here they are, the Wood Brothers still just Wood Brothers, and not part of some hyphenated or amalgamated team name.

"We went through all that," Eddie Wood said during the final day of the Sprint media tour. "We felt like we needed to think about that back in the spring, almost a year ago. We started talking to people, had some meetings with people, and you'd get so far with it, and whatever they were doing didn't really match up with what you were doing. It would if you had to do it. But I think Richard Petty said it best. He said something like, 'Everybody's got baggage. We've got baggage, the guy you're talking to has baggage. Sometimes it's too much baggage to put it all together.'"

Of course, Petty ultimately wound up handing all his baggage over to George Gillett. But the Woods, who co-own the team along with their sister Kim, ultimately didn't want to give up control.

"When it comes to making a decision, we're kind of hands on," Len Wood said. "We had a drive line test Monday of this past week, and Eddie and I were there watching the whole thing. I won't say I put the transmission up in the fixture, but we were there helping to evaluate what the next step was. So we're hands-on owners. That being said, we don't have to wait for somebody to answer a question for us. If something needs to be changed, if something looks wrong, smells wrong, we're going to fix it. And not next week, we'll fix it right now. We don't have to ask somebody."

They don't regret standing pat. "We're going to try not to make the wrong move," Len said. "You enter into a partnership with somebody, it's kind of like getting married. You're there, and you better make the right moves. So we're not going to be doing it just to do it."

That kind of independence comes with a price. At the urging of Ford, which supplies the Woods with technical assistance and effectively backs the car through its Motorcraft brand, the organization is pulling back to just a 12-race schedule in 2009. With Bill Elliott driving, the No. 21 car will run at Daytona, and then on an assortment of high-speed intermediate tracks where the Woods felt they made the most progress last year. To save money, they're skipping some races where the hotel rates are exorbitant. And they're skipping short tracks, which means no races in Martinsville or Richmond for the Virginia-born team.

Ultimately, Ford wanted the Woods to focus more on being better on the race track, and less on searching for sponsorship. Ideally, the reduced schedule will allow the Woods and crew chief David Hyder to turn out better cars, record better finishes, and perhaps secure sponsorship for more races down the line. But the performance has to come first.

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We don't have to wait for somebody to answer a question for us. If something needs to be changed, if something looks wrong, smells wrong, we're going to fix it. And not next week, we'll fix it right now. We don't have to ask somebody.

”

-- LEN WOOD

"As they were looking for sponsors, things were getting tight. A lot of guys were really tightening up the purse strings," said Brian Wolfe, Ford's director for North American motorsports. "We talked about it quite a bit and were really pleased with the technical progress they were making late in the year with the new crew chief they had brought on board. They were really embracing the analytical tools that we had. We said, 'Len and Eddie, we don't need you to run the full season. It won't hurt us. You're putting so much effort and emphasis on chasing the sponsors, let's forget about that. Let's just focus on 12 races next year, and if those sponsors come on board it will be easy to add and it will also set a better foundation for 2010.'"

The Woods say such a move hearkens back to their past, when the No. 21 car won most of its races while running a part-time schedule and as few as five full-time employees working in the shop. Yet that was a different era. With few exceptions -- most notably Mark Martin, who recorded several solid finishes running limited schedules for Ginn Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc. -- part-time teams haven't fared very well in today's NASCAR. The Woods believe they can be different.

"We felt like rather than doing something halfway, let's try to do 12, do what we can do, and do them right. And then each week when we show up, try to be on top of our game," Len said. "It's not a breather, but it gives us a chance to regroup, and do things more efficiently. I need a jack man who can be a mechanic, I need a fabricator who can change tires, things like that. Instead of having two people do one job, I want one guy that does two jobs right now. Things like that, get our stuff back together, and hopefully get our performance up to where we can get the sponsors easily and hopefully be back full time for the next year."

The Woods did see slight improvement near the end of last season, capped by a 12th-place finish at Homestead. That has them hopeful for 2009. "We spent more time on these two Daytona cars than we've spent in years," Len said. "If we don't make a good showing, it will fool me."

Were the Woods ever close to closing their doors for good? The brothers say no. The Woods are a proud family with a proud legacy on the race track, something they'd like to keep intact. So come Daytona they'll be at it like they've always been, with even the co-owners getting their hands dirty and carrying parts through the garage area, trying to keep the family business going a little longer.

"We're not standing here looking for a bailout," Len said. "We've talked to [NASCAR chairman] Brian France, we've talked to [International Speedway Corp. president] Lesa [France Kennedy], we've talked to [NASCAR president] Mike Helton. We've explained our situation. Now, we don't want them mad at us for running a part-time schedule. But we also don't want to do more than we know what we can do."

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.