"Earnhardt Ganassi Racing has sponsorship for Aric Almirola for the upcoming NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Bristol and Martinsville and will definitely enter him April 5 at Texas, but his schedule beyond Texas is still pending sponsorship, EGR President Steve Lauletta says. Earnhardt Ganassi Racing has sponsorship for Aric Almirola for the upcoming NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Bristol and Martinsville and will definitely enter him April 5 at Texas, but his schedule beyond Texas is still pending sponsorship, EGR President Steve Lauletta says" (source www.jayski.com)

How does this make everyone feel? I know I have strong feelings. Less then a year and a half after Jr. left, the greatest marketing success in all forms of racing anywhere will cease too exist. Maybe you would like to debate the success of the #8 Budweiser Monte Carlo (the number #8 Budweiser car has only ever been a Monte Carlo), but numbers don't lie. Even Sr. fan must acknowledge - the world - the money - it was ridiculous and is the most recognized.

Wiped out. Without Jr., there is no #8.

Whadya think?

 

that "sea of red" that you used to see is now a "sea of green" though. i agree that most people will always identify the red #8 with junior, but the amp energy drink has taken over with his fans. there was just a big article on nascar.com about how amp's sales have skyrocketed 120 percent (!!!) since they became junior's sponsor. he's the most popular driver in nascar and companies and businesses are clamoring to use his name. (here's a link to the article, it was really good: http://www.nascar.com/2009/news/feat...ect/index.html)

the #8, like it or not, now belongs to aric almirola. the casual nascar fan has no freakin' clue who he is. that, plus the awful state of the economy, equals tough days for sponsorship for the #8. they're not the only ones feeling the hit; even carl edwards, one of today's most popular drivers, has a full time sponsorship with Aflac this year - but they're trying to sell off as many races as they can to other companies to recoup some money.

i don't think the #8 will go anywhere, i think nascar will be just fine and eventually sponsorships will come back once the economy turns around a little and companies realize there is a lot of money to be made in a sport that has such loyal fans like nascar.

just my $.02

 

I like Aric too. I thought it was awesome when Martin drove it! But what I think is nuts is that 4 races from now there literally won't be a #8. Aric is losing his ride. Because of the point, he may not even make it that far.

 

i honestly think they'll end up finding sponsorship for it. if guys like joe nemecheck and robby gordon are finding sponsorships, certainly a car with the earnhardt name on it (via the team of course) can find something.

and if not this year, then maybe aric spends a season in the busch (nationwide) series and comes back full throttle next year.

i know i can't wait to see this economic issue go away. it was nothing short of painful to see how few people were actually at the atlanta race. and this may be the first bristol race in 53 consecutive events (roughly 25 years i think) that is not sold out. i looked for tickets last week and they were still available. i believe it's due to the economy and not a lack of interest in the sport though.

 

Its weird how some guys like Mayfield find full time sponsorship. He must not have been asking for much.

 

i read somewhere the other day (nascar illustrated, i think) that the average yearly sponsorship was around $26 million. this year, there was a team (of course i can't remember who) who got a sponsorship for $350,000 for like 1/4 of the season. talk about on the cheap.

on the mayfield note, i am so glad to see him back in the series. i was a big time fan of his for years and years, starting back when he was in the #12 car like 15 years ago. i was disappointed in evernham when they let him go but they apparently had a big falling out and the team wasn't listening to jeremy's suggestions. it's good to see him back, even if he's not as competitive as he once was.

 

And they say it's 100-150K just to build a car to get it on the track. Not to mention buying tires, race entry fee ($1000), and paying the crew.


I met Mayfield back in '98 before the fall race in Atlanta when he had bleached hair. He was doing good at Evernham, but I don't know what went wrong. Evernham was a lot better as a crew chief. Midway through this season will be 11 years since he left the 24 team. I don't think he gave Casey Atwood a fair shot. Mayfield is a seasoned vet, and he may not have any championships or real notable wins, he's the kinda guy you like to have around the team. He's almost like a Mark Martin or Terry Labonte. I'd like to see him finish the whole schedule out though.

 

definitely agree with that. he's been around a long time and has seen the sport go through a LOT of changes. i picked up on him back in the day because i thought he was cute ahh, the advantages of all-male sports i love racing for racing's sake...but it doesn't hurt that there are a lot of good lookin' dudes!! i love a man in a firesuit....

i'll stop now, before i make all the guys on here nauseous

 

News out today from NASCAR.COM


EGR's No. 8 car shutting down due to no sponsor

By David Caraviello, NASCAR.COM
April 8, 2009
04:59 PM EDT

The car that Dale Earnhardt Jr. made famous is being shut down indefinitely.
The No. 8 car at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing is suspending operations due to a lack of sponsorship, the team confirmed Wednesday. The vehicle, driven this season by Aric Almirola, lost the backing of primary sponsor U.S. Army to Stewart-Haas Racing over the winter, and has raced this year on short-term deals.
EGR president Steve Lauletta said the suspension was something the team knew was a possibility, given that the No. 8 car opened the year without full-time backing.
"When we started last November forming Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, our plan was to go into the season and run the three cars, but we knew we needed funding for Aric's car in order to make that happen," Lauletta said. "... We did everything we could to find that one company that would jump on board and take a number of races to keep going, but we haven't had the time to do that just yet. It takes a long time, especially in these economic conditions, to bring a sponsorship to closure. While we were doing that, we just couldn't continue to keep going to the race track without the proper funding from a sponsor perspective."
Almirola said he knew the No. 8 team had enough money to get to Texas, but after that there were no guarantees. He learned Monday night that the team had suspended operations.
"I've been kept abreast of everything going on, and it wasn't a secret we were looking for sponsors. So surprise is not the right word," he said. "But definitely a little bit if a disappointment, because I'm a race car driver and I love to race. I want to do nothing more than be at the race track every week and race, but I understand the situation, for sure. I understand it takes a lot of money to show up on the race track every weekend. And when you don't have it, you don't have it. We have to work hard at trying to go find it."
Sources indicate that about 40 employees risk losing jobs in the suspension. Lauletta said the No. 8 program would be revived if sponsorship were to be found. Almirola's car has carried the colors of four different sponsors in its seven races this season. The 25-year-old Tampa native stands 37th in owners' points, by far the lowest of the three full-time EGR cars. Juan Montoya is 13th and Martin Truex Jr. 24th (owners' points).
"We're talking to a lot of companies. We had a couple of companies with us at Texas," said Lauletta, referring to the site of last weekend's Sprint Cup event. "We've been doing this one [race] at a time, two at a time, three at a time, and it's really tough to do that. So we decided to not go to Phoenix and get ourselves to the point where we can get that sponsor that will believe in Aric and market around Aric and help our team. Once we do that, we'll be back with the 8 on the track."
Almirola is still under contract with EGR, Lauletta said, although he added the organization would consider talking to other teams interested in providing the driver with seat time while the No. 8 car is shut down.
"At the point that I'm at in my career, I'm not a seasoned veteran by any means, so every day I'm in the race car I feel like I'm learning something new and getting better," Almirola said. "Seat time is extremely important to me. But it costs money. Even to go test, it costs money. The moral of the story or the bottom line or however you want to put it is, you need money to do those kinds of things. So every day that goes by that I'm not in a race car and somebody else is, I feel like I'm at a disadvantage."
Lauletta also reiterated that there are no clauses in the contract of Truex's car sponsor, Bass Pro Shops, that demand at least two full-time teammates.
"Bass Pro and Target and Martin and Juan, everybody understands what we're doing and they all buy into it," Lauletta said. "So there are no changes coming on the 42 [car of Montoya] or the 1 [car of Truex], and we're just going to keep doing what we need to do to get those cars into the Chase and performing where we need to them perform."




Find this article at:
http://www.nascar.com/2009/news/head...own/index.html

 

i was gonna post that, you beat me to it. sad news, but it's a tough time all around for nascar as a whole. sponsorship dollars are tough to come by, especially to fund someone who a lot of people have never heard of (i can't tell you how much it irks me to hear him called "eric" all the time) and who hasn't really proven himself in the series yet. it still sucks though.