Rick Gdovic unsure when team will run under new banner
The assets of the NASCAR XFINITY Series race team Viva Motorsports have been purchased by Brandon Gdovic's dad, Rick Gdovic, he told the Daily Press of Newport News, Virginia.
Rick Gdovic told the newspaper he purchased all of Viva's stock-car racing assets last week and the team, under the Precision Performance Motorsports banner, will race out of Viva's former shop in China Grove, North Carolina.
The organization raced in the first 13 races of the season with Brandon Gdovic making two starts for the Jamie Dick-owned organization. His best finish was a 26th-place effort at Texas Motor Speedway in April.
Two weeks ago, after the Michigan race weekend, Viva Motorsports announced it was ceasing operations. Dick (five races) and Jeffrey Earnhardt (six races) also made starts for the team this year. At the time, a team release said that the assets had been purchased and the No. 55 car would appear in a handful of races.
Rick Gdovic told the newspaper that his son will be one of the drivers for the team and that they hope to run selected races over the course of the rest of 2015 with an eye on running the bulk of the 2016 schedule if additional sponsorship and drivers can be secured. The team will be sponsored by Pronius, American Messaging, WindStax and Gdovic's own business, ComServe Verizon Wireless.
"We are excited about the purchase of Viva's operation," Gdovic said. "They have continued to build race assets and a reputation over the past few years.
"We plan to continue their drive to become a top-level XFINITY Series operation that offers great value for our sponsorship partners, and another step up the ladder for our driver development program."
The purchase includes 12 cars as well as race engines, shop, office equipment and a hauler. The China Grove shop will also house the K&N Pro Series East cars of Gray Gaulding, who is part of PPM's team in that series.