With no current sponsorship secured for a fulltime Nationwide series ride for 2011, Penske Racing president Tim Cindric said the organization would not stand in the way if driver Justin Allgaier is able to secure another ride for next season.
“I’d hate to say he was free to go, but there is a mutual respect there,” Cindric told Sirius Satellite Radio’s Claire B. Lang on Wednesday night. “We haven’t been able to put (anything) together yet and we want to see him land on his feet.
“Certainly if he has another opportunity out there, we would be more than happy to see him succeed and we would work with him on those fronts, although our first choice would be to keep him in one of our cars.”
Allgaier, 24, is in his second full season driving for Penske in the Nationwide Series. He earned his first career win earlier this season at Bristol , Tenn.
I'd like to be able to work up a serious case of indignation that the highest standing Nationwide-only driver can't seem to secure funding next year, but after the defending Truck Series champion couldn't, all I can manage is a lot of disgust. Yeah, the economy sucks, blah, blah, blah...but a responsible organization would recognize that the teams that ARE THE REASON IT EXISTS need help. And when money is scarce, limiting sponsorship opportunities by making sure to snap up as many exclusives as possible is stupid and irresponsible.
ReplyDeleteThere's something seriously wrong with NASCAR when the Nationwide-only points leader cannot find sponsorship despite being part of a premiere and well-respected racing team.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it's time for NASCAR to consider some form of revenue sharing? It would certainly help with costs. Certainly NASCAR itself has enough money to stay afloat while sharing with the teams and not just the tracks, right? And it would be far easier to develop some sort of minimum participation and/or spending threshold than in MLB. NOBODY has enough money to operate right now, so it would be difficult to set a minimum spending amount which would price the small teams out of competition.
Andrew, a hard spending cap and inter-team revenue sharing are long overdue.
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