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Dodge’s departure may be the beginning of end for Truck series

Is NASCAR's Truck tour facing eventual extinction? Dodge is pulling all its Truck series support, and the addition of the Grand American road-racing series to NASCAR's official portfolio has led to intense speculation that Grand Am will soon have a much higher profile and might even supplant the Truck series in NASCAR's national touring operations. Sprint Cup teams and automakers say they are already feeling increased pressure to add Grand Am to their operations. A good Grand Am budget right now is about $1.5 million, for 15 races or so. That's half the price of a good Truck sponsorship, which runs from $3 million to $5 million a year. But one worry is if Cup owners get involved in Grand Am racing, the annual team budget could quickly escalate by $3 million to $7 million. Still, the possibility of adding, say, Tony Stewart or Jimmie Johnson to a Grand Am field would certainly raise the visibility of that tour and probably ratings and crowd appeal, too.  (From Winston-Salem Journal)

Driver comments from Texas

Chevy:
comments from Mark Martin, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer, Dale Jr., Jimmie Johnson, and Jeff Gordon
comments from DEI team

Dodge:
comments from Bobby Labonte
comments from Robby Gordon
comments from Elliot Sadler
comments from Patrick Carpentier
comments from Ryan Newman
comments from Sam Hornish, Jr.
comments from Kurt Busch

Ford:

Toyota:
comments from Denny Hamlin
comments from Kyle Busch
comments from Tony Stewart
comments from J.J. Yeley
comments from Dave Blaney

Martinsville: team and driver post race comments (3/30/08)

Ford Racing:
comments from Jamie McMurray, David Ragan, and Matt Kenseth (from FordRacing.com)

Chevy Racing:
comments from Jeff Burton and Jeff Gordon (from GeneralMotors.com)
comments from Clint Bowyer (from RCRRacing.com)

Dodge Racing:
comments from Robby Gordon (from RobbyGordon.com)
comments from Bobby Labonte (from PettyEnterprises.com)
comments from Kurt Busch (from PenskeRacing.com)
comments from Sam Hornish Jr. (from PenskeRacing.com)
comments from Ryan Newman (from PenskeRacing.com)

Toyota Racing:
comments from Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart, Brian Vickers, Michael McDowell, Mike Skinner, and Dave Blaney (from ToyotaPitpass.com)
comments from Tony Stewart (from JoeGibbsRacing.com)
comments from J.J. Yeley (from HallOfFameRacing.com)

BAM Racing Switches To Toyota

BAM Racing is switching to Toyotas beginning this weekend at Martinsville Speedway, team spokesman Rhett Vandiver says. “After being with Dodge for seven years, we looked around and evaluated all the manufacturers, and we just found Toyota to be most committed to racing and the one that would benefit our program the best,” Vandiver said Wednesday.

The team, which fields the No. 49 entry for Ken Schrader, also announced that Microsoft, through its small-business program, will be the primary sponsor for Martinsville and an associate sponsor for the rest of the season. BAM Racing offers small businesses a sponsorship package that can start at $4,995.

Bill Davis Racing is also working with BAM Racing on the transition from Toyota to Dodge, Vandiver said. (From SceneDaily.com)