NASCAR Sprint Cup team executives decline to discuss merger speculation

By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Sunday, November 09, 2008
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Team Owner Chip Ganassi would not discuss possible merger talks with the media on Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway.

Jason Smith
Getty Images for NASCAR

AVONDALE, Ariz. – If teams are talking to others in the garage area about merging, the owners and executives weren’t talking about it Sunday in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage.
 
“I can save you a lot of time here – I can’t talk about any of this,” said Chip Ganassi, co-owner of Chip Ganassi Racing at Phoenix International Raceway. “It’s not that I don’t want to talk about it, but I can’t talk about all this stuff.”
 
Ganassi’s team reportedly has been in talks with Petty Enterprises and Dale Earnhardt Inc. – two teams that also have reportedly been in discussions with each other.
 
Petty Enterprises CEO David Zucker politely declined to talk about any merger possibilities.
 
DEI President Max Siegel wasn’t at the race track.
 
“We are having multiple discussions about ways to sustain a strong racing program,” Siegel said via e-mail. “We will make an announcement about our future plans in the next two weeks.”
 
Hall of Fame Racing and Wood Brothers Racing also have been mentioned as potential candidates for mergers.
 
“We’re working hard to make sure that we’re [here and competitive] – that’s what we’re working hard to do,” Hall of Fame Racing co-owner Tom Garfinkel said. “I hesitate to put a timeline on it because it’s not all within my control.”
 
Bill Davis Racing said Saturday that he thought he had a potential merger done but it didn’t look like it would happen. Robby Gordon said his team is not involved in any of the merger talk.

Comments

3 responses to "NASCAR Sprint Cup team executives decline to discuss merger speculation". Post a Comment.
  1. 1
    anonymous said:
    Nov 10, 2008 at 6:16 AM

    Who represented DEI at the track this weekend????? Max wasn't there and we all can assume the absentee owner TE wasn't there. No wonder DEI is in such poor shape.

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  2. 2
    K P said:
    Nov 10, 2008 at 6:26 PM

    Kind of obvious no one is talking with Robby Gordon. I wish he would fall out of the top 35 in owner points so he would have to qualify on time early next year. He is clearly the worst team to have raced in all races this year. Two or three teams have missed races and yet are higher in owner points. He needs to go back to open wheel racing.

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  3. 3
    renaldo himmelbeiber IV said:
    Nov 14, 2008 at 11:03 AM

    Robby Gordon gives NASCAR some of the variety it so desperately needs to open up its fan base and if you think his team is
    performing poorly,youre not too bright.
    They clearly need to improve,have made tons
    of mistakes,but they can run with the leaders time wise and have at several races.
    Testing makes a one car team obsolete.
    Wise up. The greatest news this yr is the
    ban on 2009 testing,making Robby and other
    smaller teams competitive again. Watch,it
    will help them.

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