JTG Daugherty Racing to scale back Nationwide teams for '09
JTG Daughterty Racing co-owner Tad Geschickter said Wednesday that the team’s No. 47 NASCAR Nationwide Series team for driver Kelly Bires will run at least 12 races in 2009 as sponsorship issues will likely force the team to cut back to part-time status.
Geschickter has run full-time teams in the series since the mid-1990s, running two cars since 2004. But JTG Daugherty likely will have two part-time teams in 2009.
“The nature of most of our sponsorship is a pay-as-you-go, business-to business relationship,” Geschickter said. “I can tell you we’re going to go to Daytona and Bristol. I can tell you that relationship’s going to continue to provide money to the operation. I would anticipate 12 [races] would be the least we would run, but you may see us run a lot more than that. We’re going to make the money from the sponsorship before we spend it rather than go ahead spend it and bet on how much it’s going to turn into.”
Geschickter said Frank Kerr, crew chief for the team’s Sprint Cup car driven by Marcos Ambrose, will likely call the shots for Bires on race days. Otherwise, a full-time replacement for the departed Scott Zipadelli will not be named.
The team’s No. 59 Nationwide entry, driven last year by Ambrose, will sit most of the year. Ambrose will run two Nationwide road-course races, and development driver Coleman Pressley could drive in some short-track events later in the year.
Geschickter is hardly discouraged by having to scale back his Nationwide team.
“With this economy, [Bires] understands and we understand we need to run as much as we can afford to run … and try to go out and win races next year,” Geschickter said. “Unfortunately after 14 years of running for points every week, the economy and the sponsor search and the size and scale of the sponsors won’t allow us to do that this year.
“But I’m a glass-is-half-full instead of a glass-is-half-empty guy, so for 14 years we’ve tried to run every week. It may be a blessing that we rub on these things a little harder and really go loaded for bear when we do that."
