Braun considering possible sale of Nationwide Series team

By Lee Montgomery - Associate Editor

Monday, May 26, 2008

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CONCORD, N.C. - A week after one Nationwide Series owner said he was considering leaving the series, another said he could leave, too. Todd Braun said the high cost of switching to the car of tomorrow could prove to be too much to his independent team.

That’s what JR Motorsports co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. said last week. Earnhardt Jr. said he is considering moving his team to the Sprint Cup Series because of the added cost of switching to the COT.

Braun said he evaluates the economic viability of his Braun Racing team every year, looking for ways to increase resources. Braun has merged with other teams in the past and could do so again. Or he could sell part or all of his three-car team.

“They’re going to make us all half-pregnant,” Braun said of NASCAR making the move to the COT. “I’m supposed to start developing a car to race half a season? Now I’m going to have all this new stuff sitting there that I’ve spent all this money on before I make my decision?

“They’re forcing my hand. They’re trying to make me half-pregnant to get started to run the season next year, and then think that I’ll just go ahead and say, ‘Ah, heck, I’m already there. I’ll spend more money to keep doing it.’ I think they might be wrong this time. I think people might call their bluff.”

Braun said “selling, merging, whatever it might be, is definitely in the forefront of everybody’s minds” in the Nationwide garage.

Braun said that even as his team has grown through mergers, he said Braun Racing is “farther away from the bigger organizations on the other side of the garage, and that makes it harder for us to see the long-term viability without more resources brought into the team.”

NASCAR wants to move to a Nationwide COT some time next year, perhaps as early as August. Braun estimated it would cost his team $3 million to switch cars, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to incur that type of expense.

“Until I see something that makes me think that long term, it’s viable, I’m not going to switch my complete fleet out just so that I can spend some money to put on a show for NASCAR,” Braun said. “This still is a business. A lot of people make money in this business. That means everybody should be healthy, not just a few people.”