Tad Geschickter knows all too well how this game is played.

As co-owner of JTG Daugherty Racing, Geschickter has seen a lot of drivers come and go. A driver leaves for this reason or that, and another comes on board. It's a way of life throughout the NASCAR garage, and certainly not just with Geschickter's operation. This time around, however, it probably stung a little bit when Marcos Ambrose decided to seek other opportunities.

“

Marcos is over here to run for championships or go home. He can win championships at home and be with his family.

”

-- TAD GESCHICKTER

The Australian Ambrose began his NASCAR career behind the wheel of a Geschickter-owned truck in 2006, and he moved the following season to the Nationwide Series. Ambrose won Nationwide races at Watkins Glen in 2008 and 2009, and appeared ready for the Cup tour. Again, Geschickter, wife Jodi and new business partner Brad Daugherty made the full-time jump to Cup with Ambrose beginning with the 2009 season.

While there have been flashes of brilliance -- a late-race miscue at Sonoma last month cost the team an almost sure victory -- results at the Cup level have been for the most part just so-so. Has it been the team? Was it Ambrose? Whatever the case might have been, the driver announced earlier this week that he would be moving on. Despite the investment he and the JTG Daugherty Racing organization have in Ambrose, Geschickter says he understands Ambrose's decision.

"We've been together for five years," Geschickter said. "Marcos is over here to run for championships or go home. He can win championships at home and be with his family. Certainly, as our season kind of started to stall out a little bit this year, we didn't progress our results from last year.

"He has no benchmark. He's only driven my cars and trucks. I certainly understood his [thinking], 'I want to see if I can catch on with a mega-team. If I'm as good as I am right now with a mega-team, I just need to go home.' There's no assurance whether our stalled results are because of my equipment or Marcos. Change is never pleasant, but I understood his thinking on it, that's for sure."

For more than a decade, one constant has been the owner's relationship with The Clorox Company. The Kingsford brand first joined the Geschickters in 1998, and it's now one of the longest joint ventures in the sport. The company's title product came on board in 2004. As the team and Ambrose moved to the Cup tour, The Clorox Company upped its commitment that much more.

The team is also backed by Kleenex and Lance Snacks, which have also been involved in the sport at various levels for well over a decade. When Ambrose opted out, Geschickter and his corporate partners were left to figure out Plan B. The alternative turned out to be none other than 2000 Cup champion Bobby Labonte. (Continued)