Finch will run team through September race weekend at Richmond
James Finch has sold Phoenix Racing, and the new owners will take control of the organization after this September’s event weekend at Richmond International Raceway.
“It’s just time to do something else,” Finch said Thursday by telephone. “I’ve been doing it all my life. It’s time to do something else. Hell, if I was young, I’d do it all over again.”
Finch would not disclose the buyer, which he said would formally announce the transaction in the coming days. He added that the sale included the race team’s assets, as well as the shop in Spartanburg, S.C., and that the organization’s personnel would remain employed.
Finch will continue to run the team through this September’s race weekend at Richmond, he added, and the new buyers will take control the following week before the event at Chicagoland.
Phoenix Racing has been competing in NASCAR’s top two series since 1989, when Finch first fielded a car on the now-Nationwide Series for driver Jeff Purvis at Charlotte. The organization has won 13 times on the Nationwide tour, most recently at Daytona in the summer of last year with Kurt Busch. The team has one Sprint Cup Series victory, with Brad Keselowski at Talladega in the spring of 2009.
The team has often struggled to find sponsorship, often leading Finch to fund the organization out of his own pocket. Although he’s selling his race team, Finch said he’ll still be a presence at the race track.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “I’ll be around. I’ll come to races and all. I just wasn’t going to go broke doing it. Sponsorships are really tough to come by and stuff like that. I didn’t want to lose everything I’ve got trying to outrun Ford Motor Company, you know?”
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